Faith No More
by Oxnate
Summary: Faith has lived her life. Come to grips with her past and her choices. And now, she has to do it all over again.
1. Chapter 1

Faith No More.

By Oxnate.

My titles are usually inspired by songs, but this time it's a band name. Faith No More was an 80's band that had a hit called _Epic_. The band name fit. Don't own the band or their rights, etc. Also don't own Buffy. If I found the ownership to Buffy on the ground, I would give it to Joss trusting that he either owns it or knows who does better than I do.

Inspiration for the fic itself came from fan art by cloudleonsgurl: Worlds She Never Walked #228. (On Twisting The Hellmouth) There is also a great banner that cloudleonsgurl made. You can see the whole think over on TTH. www . tthfanfic Story-28620/Oxnate+Faith+No+More . htm (Remove spaces)

_If anyone deserved a do-over it was Faith. She had made so many mistakes in her life, and she wishes she could change them. When Buffy and the gang think she's gone dark again, Faith has to battle a big bad and the Scoobies._

_But when Faith sacrifices herself to a spell meant to kill…the PTBs give Faith that chance, upset the way their champions treated one of their own._

_She is now back on the run from the Master Vampire who killed Linda, and headed towards Sunnydale. What will Faith change?_

_Well, she's definitely not going dark side. She definitely going to mess with Buffy thinking the blonde's jealously is funny, she's going to call Willow out of her shit with Xander, and if boytoy is good Faith might take him with her after they destroy the Mayor._

_What? You thought Faith was going stay so Buffy can go to college? Heck no! Faith is carving out her own destiny, _

* * *

I dislike Deus Ex Machina and I think I can set it up better; but I like the idea. So here goes.

Oh, and there will probably be some bashing of almost everyone in this fic. This is Faith and she doesn't take shit from anyone, especially not these kids who will one day be Scoobies. I'll try to keep it mild.

Not intending anything kinky to begin with, but it's Faith and you know there's going to be some good sex and swearing there. Hopefully both at the same time. Some chapters might be rated FR21. (M)

* * *

One last note: Diana Dormer is the name listed for Faith's Watcher in the Buffy Wiki. I'm bad at coming up with names anyways. The nickname of DD (Pronounced: Double D) is mine but it seemed like something Faith would come up with in reference to the woman's bra size.

* * *

Chapter 1.

"I know, right? I wish I had a chance to do this whole Slayer thing over. Do it right."

"Done."

* * *

Okay, not her proudest moment ever. But seriously, they hadn't seen a vengeance demon in over a decade. She figured they'd lost interest by now.

Faith laid in bed for another couple of minutes moping about her stupidity. She'd never even seen the demon that granted the wish so the odds of finding the veiny thing and smashing its necklace were low. Then again, Anya was probably still alive here or maybe even Anyanka. She could beat her to a bloody pulp until she got sent back. If that didn't work, she knew who D'Hoffryn was and that there was a spell to summon him. So plan C was to summon him and beat the ever loving crap out of _him_ until he took the wish back.

Faith took a deep breath and almost gagged. God. Where was she sleeping? A trash heap? No. It was just her old room. The one she still shared with the bitch that called itself her mother. She got up and stretched a bit. She was pleased _not_ to feel the twinge in her right shoulder where she'd taken the hit from the horn of a Yarnack demon a couple of years ago. Other assorted creaks and pangs were similarly gone. Slayer healing healed a lot, but not quite everything. Well, at least if she had to be cursed by a demon, she got a younger body out of it. A younger body but still retaining all the knowledge of a life of hard knocks and bad choices.

What was that saying? '_Age and treachery will always beat youth and skill... until it doesn't._' But now she had all four. She was probably as close to unstoppable as she could be.

The first thing she had to do was get the fuck out of this house. Because she remembered very clearly how this day went and she didn't want to meet her watcher like she had the first go-round; when the lady bailed her out of jail. She packed all her clothes. Stole as much money as she could find and then was out the door without leaving a note. She never looked back.

* * *

As she walked she tried to remember what she'd been told about her predecessor. No one talked about her much but she knew the girl had visited Sunnydale once to help deal with Spike restoring Drusilla. Then Buffy and Angel had done the horizontal mambo and sucked Angel's soul right out of him. She grinned at the imagery that brought up.

Angelus hadn't been much of a player himself, but he did bring two Big Bads with him. The Judge and Alcatha. Alcatha was where Angel got his soul restored and then he got sent to a hell dimension. Angel had told her a lot about that. A lot more than he'd told anyone else, she knew that for certain.

But she couldn't for the life of her remember when Kendra had been killed. Judge or Alcatha? She might have to just resort to calling SunnyD and asking if Buffy was in town. If she was then she might be able to help with Alcatha and save Angel a trip to hell. Otherwise, she could wait a couple months until he returned.

Till then, she had a watcher to find.

* * *

Faith decided that the fastest way to find her Watcher would be to start dusting some vamps. Enough to get noticed but not enough to draw Kakistos' attention. Yet.

There weren't nearly as many vampires in Boston as there were in Sunnydale. Kakistos ruled his minions with an iron fist and made sure that there were only a few victims each night and no unauthorized turnings. Most vamps under his thumb subsisted on cow or pig blood and only got the occasional human as a reward. But it kept the humans from finding out about them, which kept them safe.

That meant that finding a vamp to kill would be more difficult than she'd originally thought. And it wasn't like she could ask someone. Even if everyone had known about the supernatural, the unofficial city motto was 'Fuck You Asshole', which meant they weren't likely to tell her anyways.

So she walked. Pretty soon her feet brought her to a place she recognized. Nostrovia (with the Russian На здоровье underneath the main sign), the local demon bar.

Walking in, she was reminded very much of a village in Africa.

* * *

_Thirty or so dark and angry faces armed with a mixture of spears, stakes, and knives greeted her when she approached the village. Thirty young and mostly untrained Slayers in various states of undress that wouldn't budge when she stated that she was looking for Xander. At least one of them had gone running off to somewhere. Hopefully to find Xander._

_Once Xander had come out and introduced her to the girls, they had mostly relaxed. She also realized that the state of undress some of the girls were in was simply how they went about the day. Nearly a quarter of the girls went around topless as a matter of course. Xander was unfazed by all the nudity. He was also shirtless. The first thing she noticed were the scars – more than the last time she'd seen him without a shit – white against his now very tan skin. Skin which rippled with strength. Not Slayer strength, gifted to those that never asked for it. But real strength. Earned by the sweat of his brow and the blood he lost in fights with demons he had no business fighting. But beat anyway._

_And then there was that eye. A calm determination behind it, that frankly both scared and excited her. It was the first time she'd ever considered sleeping with a man more than once since she and Wood had broke up._

_That one eye calmly looked right back at her and he said, "What do you want, Faith?"_

* * *

"Huh?"

"Are you deaf? I said what do you want, kid?" the bartender gave her the stink eye.

Faith stood there for a moment. She didn't really have a plan.

"Get her out of here." the bartender ordered.

Two vampires rose from their seats to escort her out and possibly drain her. That was all the more encouragement she needed. In three seconds they were both dust. Then the bar erupted.

* * *

Slayers have instinctive fighting skills, however training is required for building speed, strength, stamina, and muscle memory. Faith hadn't realized how untrained this body was until the fight started. Her mind knew all the moves but her body didn't. Had never done them before. And she paid the price for that. She stumbled out of the bar into the dark streets, landed on her back, and looked up at the stars. She had never been more glad to see the last demons run away from her bluff. Then from her compromised position, a shadow approached.

"Faith Lehane?" a woman's voice asked.

"Faith. Just Faith." Faith allowed herself to cry again over the woman she thought she'd never see again.

* * *

A/N: Yes, Faith misremembered Acathla's name. Her mistake, not mine.

A/N2: Yes, Faith is a Slayer. She was transported back to when she was first called. This will become clearer next chapter.

Ok, I'm not sure that my setup was any better than the original one but it was a heck of a lot simpler. On with the story!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

_Faith just smiled. "Just giving you a friendly warning is all. Dawn turns 18 next week. If you're not back in England by the weekend after that, she's coming down here with a tranquilizer gun. She's going to knock you out and then drag you back to England to have her wicked way with you."_

"_You came all the way to Africa to tell me that?"_

"_Not that. No." Faith sighed before continuing. This was going to be uncomfortable. She wasn't used to sharing her feelings with anyone before Wood, and look what an asshole he'd turned out to be. Still, even **he** hadn't gone blabbing or trying to blackmail her with the personal shit she'd shared. So she maybe had the courage to do this now. "We fucked."_

_Xander just nodded at this statement but his eye didn't waver._

_Faith swallowed. "After I went... around the bend. You tried to talk me down. You were the only one who really tried to talk to me as a human. Almost every day, I think to myself, 'what if I had just listened to Xander instead of Angel?'. Everyone else, including Angel, saw me as a killer so I became a killer." Faith stopped for a second. "I- I didn't realize it at the time. I thought it was you looking for another shot. Ya know? But that's really just who you were. Are. And it took me a long time to see that. I owe you one."_

"_I thought you owed Angel one." Xander stated._

"_I did. But it wasn't for his skills as a counselor." Faith smirked. "Now I just have one last debt to pay."_

"_So, dragging me back to England is your way of making it up to me?" Xander smirked back._

"_No. Letting you try to get yourself killed in Africa was my way of making it up to you. But time's up. It's time you rejoined the world."_

"_Faith."_

"_And I'm going to be right there by your side, Wet Noodle." Faith smirked._

_Xander bowed his head to think for several seconds about that nickname and where he had heard it. He finally remembered referring to his muscles in that way when trying to talk to Faith that night. "I can't, Faith." his head still bowed._

"_These girls need more training than one watcher, no matter how good, can provide. We've got dorms, watchers, and experienced Slayers ready to train them. Hell, B even talked Giles into chartering a plane for you guys. Nothing fancy, but..." Faith informed him of the plans. "Do it for your girls."_

_Xander raised his head and met her eye. "That's the problem with Slayers. They never play fair." Then gave a wry grin._

* * *

"What were you doing in there?" Diana Dormer demanded.

"Wanted a beer. Asshole barkeep wouldn't give me one." Faith deadpanned.

"You're 15." DD replied.

"So I've been told. That's why I asked for beer instead of whiskey."

DD scowled. "Let's try again. What were you doing in a demon bar?"

Faith looked up, slightly surprised that she was playing that card so soon. But if she was willing, Faith was willing to reciprocate. "Killing monsters. Got 6 vamps, 3 Fyarl demons, and about a dozen other assorted things that go bump in the night." Faith answered.

"And how, pray tell, do you know about those things and that you could now kill them bare-handed?" Diana wondered.

Faith froze. She forgot that she shouldn't know that kind of stuff. "Oh, I've known about them for years." which if you thought about it one way was true. "I figured I was strong enough to do something about it when I punched through a brick wall today. And I _had_ a knife. But I lost it in the fight somewhere." Faith put the icepack back on her bruised and swollen cheek and adjusted the other one to a bruise on her side.

"You're going to be trouble, aren't you?" Diana wondered.

"You have no idea." Faith grinned as much as she was able under her bruises.

* * *

Once Faith found out that it was late May she realized that Kendra must have died during the Alcatha incident. She knew that Buffy had taken off after that but school had been almost over, which Xander had said made things easier as summers tended to be slow. (no pun intended unless Faith was saying it) She knew there was no real rush to get to Sunnydale now. Buffy would make her way back eventually as would Angel and there was nothing she could or should do to hurry those events up. Besides there were people she had saved in the original timeline she needed to save again if she could.

So, she and DD (Double D – a play on her initials and her matronly appearance that Faith had invented the last time around) got to do all the same things as the first time. Getting her legally emancipated. Getting Faith moved into DD's apartment. Shopping for clothes. Faith's tastes had mellowed slightly over the years. She still liked to show off her ass (especially this tiny little thing she had again – had her butt really gotten that big?) but now picked out higher cut pants and lower cut shirts so that not _everyone_ had to see her ass-crack. Faith was pleased to see that even her more conservative dress scandalized DD.

The real change from the younger to the older Faith was that Faith no longer wore makeup regularly. And never while Slaying. For one thing, it made her look a lot younger, which had been a good thing back then. And for another, it got in the way of Slaying. Mascara running into your eye could be deadly when facing a demon.

Back at the apartment, Faith had whittled some stakes and was now working on her first spear.

"Really, Faith? A spear? We are _trying_ to be inconspicuous." Diana reminded.

"Not always we aren't. Besides, they still use spears in Africa. Just think of it as a really long stake."

* * *

"_Spears? Who'da thought?" Faith shook her head._

"_Not the watchers. That's for sure. A bunch of academics. The few African watchers they have weren't raised in the bush like some of these girls." Xander mimicked Faith's reaction for a different reason. "Look out there, the ones carrying a metal-tipped spear along with their wooden ones. Those were the ones raised in the bush. They've carried those spears since they could walk; to help defend their tribe from animals and other tribes. And they already knew how to use them. I just gave them wood-tipped ones and let them do their thing. I don't know any way to train with spears, so I just give them dummies to practice on and they make up their own training regimen. But even without any help from me, you can see how much more effective spears are than stakes. So effective that all the girls carry at least one. I mostly gave up trying to teach them to use stakes and just required them to carry one as backup."_

_Xander took a breath and pointed to the girl carrying the bow and arrow. "And that's Aziza. Found her in Somalia. Metal tipped arrows but wood shafts. She's the most deadly girl in the group. Doesn't say much though." He paused. "I want you to understand something, Faith. I'm not bringing my girls to England to be trained by your watchers. I'm bringing my girls to England to train your watchers."_

_Giles had offered to pick them up by plane wherever they wanted, but Xander had said he'd pick it up more to the North. He was using the traveling time to teach his girls a few things about England and the rest of the world, including wearing shirts all the time and what the word 'cold' really meant. It also meant that he and Faith could reacquaint and he got to show off the talents of his Slayers._

_It didn't escape Faith's notice that Xander carried a spear and an AK-47 with him wherever he went._

* * *

One thing Faith didn't do was wait for Kakistos to come to her. It was only a matter of weeks before she was again fully armed and at least mostly trained. She had a good supply of holy water, stakes, spears, and a bow with some wooden arrows. It wasn't _her_ bow and arrow set, the one Xander had made for her, but Diana had bought it specially for her when she'd asked; and that made it special too. It was the strongest poundage bow on the market, though for her it still felt like a toy. But it was the thought that counted. Or the thought plus the fact that it would be more than enough pull to put arrows through normal vamps. But it wouldn't be enough for Kakistos himself. She remembered how hard it had been to drive a stake into him and wondered if he had secretly been wearing armor under that tunic. For killing him this time she was relying on her spears and a dozen Molotov Cocktails.

Faith supplied her watcher with the info about Kakistos' lair from her memory, which she admitted was pretty foggy and light on the details. She claimed that she'd beaten the info out of a vamp and DD hadn't pressed the issue.

The assault on Kakistos' lair started as planned. Faith and Diana took out the outer guards with their bow and crossbow respectively. (she didn't look it, but DD could be deadly when needed) Then she left DD with the car while she took her spears, two Molotovs, and a special spear she'd made just for the master vampire. Faith breezed through most of the minions. Faith was just too good, too experienced, and young enough to take full advantage of her knowledge. Only that black vampire, Trick, had lasted more than a few seconds against her spears.

Then the plan failed. Because there was DD, right where she was the first time and there was Kakistos with his hand/hoof wrapped around her neck.

"Drop the spears or she dies." Kakistos ordered.

Faith did as he said. But only because that freed her hands to pull a Molotov Cocktail and light it. "Damn! Someone should have told your daddy that 'Bahah!' means 'No'." She'd been waiting a long time to use that line. She even added the sheep sound effect.

"Put that down!" he ordered.

Faith threw it against the back exit which quickly went up in flames. She then pulled the second one.

"What do you think you're doing? I'll kill her." he promised.

"I don't want to do this again." she admitted. "I was going to retire soon anyway. Shoulda known that the Slayer retirement plan sucked ass. So here's the deal. If she dies. You die."

"And you're willing to kill her to kill me?" Kakistos flexed his hooves menacingly.

Faith sighed. "It does seem to be her time. Maybe it's fate. But like I said; if she dies, you die." she looked at the flames spreading out from the back door and up the walls. Pretty soon they'd engulf the door behind her and the point would be moot. "Anyway, you seem eager to die. So I'm going to make this easy for you. Release her. Or I light up the only other exit from this room and we all die." Faith flicked the lighter and brought the wick close.

"Fine." Kakistos let go of Diana's throat but not her jacket. "How do I know you'll keep your word?"

"We're the white hats." Faith stated as she put out her lighter.

Kakistos let go of Diana and moved a step to the side. Faith moved a step the other way to let him pass. He was out the door a few seconds after.

Faith put down her bottle and picked up her special spear and took off after him. Trusting DD to find her own way out.

"Slayer. Should have known you wouldn't keep your word." Kakistos spat.

"What word? I said if she died, then you'd die. I don't recall promising to let you live." Faith spat back.

Unlike the rest of the vamps in the warehouse, Kakistos was a real challenge and she didn't have Buffy as backup this time. A full minute into the fight and there was no clear winner yet, but Faith was breathing hard and the warehouse was starting to fill with smoke. She had to end this quickly. Just as she was about to make her next move, Kakistos burst into flames. Faith looked up at the catwalk and there was DD holding her lighter in one hand and the other hand was open; having just dropped the other Molotov Cocktail on Kakistos. Faith went ahead and speared the vampire for good measure then she and her watcher made their way back to the car.

* * *

Back at the apartment it was time for the uncomfortable talk.

"Alright. Who are you?" Double D demanded.

Faith sighed and collapsed theatrically onto the couch. "I don't know whatcha talkin about."

"Do you know how I was able to get you emancipated so quickly?" DD asked. Faith shook her head and DD went on, "I've been following Faith for almost six months now. Watching Faith and gathering evidence to have her placed in my care whether she was activated or not. Slayers often change a bit when they are activated but never this much."

Well that was new. Faith had never known that.

"Also the speed at which your training has progressed and your foreknowledge of demons and vampires. None of which is damning in and of itself, but together with the other evidence paints a very clear picture." DD explained. "So, I ask again. Who are you?" and this time she accompanied her demands with a small pistol.

Faith just scowled. "I just saved your ass from Kakistos and you thank me by pulling a gun on me."

"I'll thank you when you tell me what you've done with Faith Lehane." Diana said icily.

Faith sighed. This hadn't been in any of her plans. "I am Faith."

"Bullocks."

"Let me finish. I just got a little extra with the Slayer package this time. Have a seat, put down the gun, and I'll explain."

Diana didn't say anything, but she backed onto a kitchen stool and set down her gun. Far enough away that it would be close whether Faith could disarm her without getting shot.

"Like I said, I'm Faith. Ever heard of a vengeance demon? No? Well long story short – Their power comes from the W-I-S-H and the Scoobies pissed the whole lot of them off. But we hadn't heard from them in over a decade so I got careless and said 'I W-I-S-H I could do this Slayer thing over again. And BAM here I am right back in good, old Boston." she explained. "So, I am Faith. Just with a couple decades of experience thrown in."

DD took a few moments to absorb this. "I see. And how did you really know about Kakistos?"

Faith swallowed. "A few months from now Kakistos got us. He raped you and tore you in half in front of me. I was not going to give him that chance this time."

Diana was stoic in the face of the news that she had died a very gruesome death. "So when you said 'It seems to be her time'?"

"It was because he killed you before. In that exact spot too. It was kinda eerie." Faith admitted softly, not taking her eyes off her shoes.

"I just have one more question for you. Did you say 'decades of experience'?" There hadn't been a Slayer that old in centuries. Diana was almost drooling at the thought of the knowledge she must have.

Faith smiled at that. "Oh yeah. Longest continually alive Slayer ever. B don't count since she died a couple of times."

"Bee?"

"Buffy. Summers. Over in Sunnydale."

"Oh, yes, well. I suppose you _would_ know about that. The council will be pleased to know about this." DD went to get the phone but Faith was up and in front of her before she reached it, surreptitiously taking the gun DD had lost track of at the same time.

"No. No. No. No. No. And No. They are _never_ hearing about this. They _completely_ fucked up my life the first go round and they are NOT getting another shot. Is that clear? Cause if it ain't, I'm gone and you will never hear from me again. Got it?" Faith stared down her watcher. She knew how to be _damn_ intimidating if she did say so herself.

Diana was sufficiently cowed. "Okay. I understand. No reporting this to the council. Agreed?"

Faith allowed herself to relax a bit and shook the watcher's hand. "Sorry. But the council really fucked up big time trying to deal with me. Sent a fucking black-ops team to take me down. Didn't work. After that, they called me the Dark Slayer and it wasn't because of my hair." she let herself collapse on the couch again.

"I understand." DD insisted. That she had successfully evaded or even destroyed the council's retrieval team was enough to let her know that she didn't want to get on the bad side of this Slayer. "Is there anything else I should know?"

Faith looked up. "I trusted you last time and you died. So rule number one is 'Don't Die'. Rule number two is 'Don't betray my trust'. If you tell anyone about me, we're done." Faith decided. "Oh yeah, and no Crusima-whatever. For me or B. I didn't have a watcher when I turned 18 but I heard all about the royal fuckup that was Buffy's test. And if I see that shit-for-brains Travers, he's going to wish he'd never joined the council." Faith figured she'd given her watcher enough reason not to go to the council now.

Faith remembered one more thing. "Oh, and I should tell you now, when you died I went to Sunnydale on my own. I'll have to go there in a few months to take care of some shit. It'd be nice if I didn't have to hitch this time."

"I think I can arrange something. When did you want to go?" Diana offered.

"It was about the time that school started, I guess. Didn't exactly enroll." Faith informed her.

"Well, that's going to change this time." Diana insisted.

"Lady-"

"No buts on this. If you are going to be the longest lived Slayer, then you are going to have to do something with your life. A high-school diploma opens a lot more doors than being a high-school dropout does." the watcher insisted.

Faith sighed. "I don't remember you being this much trouble the first time."

Diana Dormer just gave her own wicked smile. "Then we must not have gotten to know each other properly. That is a mistake I hope we can rectify."

Faith allowed herself only an inward smile as she thought, _Me too._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I reduced the rating for now to T for now. There really hasn't been anything besides a little language so far. Be advised that the rating may go up again.

Chapter 3.

"_So, you said letting me run wild in Africa was your way of paying me back for way back when. What do you call dragging me back to England?"_

"_I call it 'for your own good'."_

* * *

"No." Faith stated calmly as she dusted a vamp. "I told you, there's no way I'm doing three years of high school. I offered to let you tutor me before I took the G.E.D. but there are good reasons I didn't finish last time."

"You are plenty smart, Faith." DD called from the sidelines of the fight. She was carrying a crossbow but not actively engaging in the fight so the demons left her alone for now.

"Being dumb wasn't one of the reasons I dropped out. As I recall, a 'bad attitude' and a 'problem with authority' were the primary issues when I dropped out the first time. Neither of those has improved much. In fact, my attitude with authority is probably worse now than it ever has been." Faith stated as she beheaded the last demon. It was almost literally the last demon in Boston. Anything else in the city was hiding under its own bed. It had taken her only a month to cleanse the city of almost all non-humans. Boston wasn't exactly a hotbed of demon activity.

"But a G.E.D. doesn't convey the same respect as a diploma." Diana argued again. They'd been having the same argument for the better part of a month. "What if I tutored you while you enrolled as a senior?"

"They let 15 year olds enroll as seniors now?" Faith wondered.

"They do if the records say they have enough credits. And if you agree, then that's what the records will say." she offered. "It would mean only one year of schooling and you'd have a diploma at the end."

_Assuming we can stop the mayor._ Faith thought. "Fine." she agreed. _If Buffy could do school and slaying then so could she._

* * *

_Oh this was such a bad idea._ Faith thought as she approached the school. Maybe it was just the knowledge that the Hellmouth was still open just beneath the school and ready to suck them all to a hell-dimension or a giant crater. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so nervous. She vaguely recalled being scared that time that Xander had almost been eviscerated by a couple Tmible demons. But she'd been able to take her nerves out on the demons and then on Xander for scaring her like that. There were no demons in sight here.

Scratch that. Here came that annoying troll, Snyder. Too bad her senses were so good at picking out demons from humans or she'd have sworn the guy was a monster. Unfortunately he was just mundane evil, not really her domain. Yet.

"Ah, Ms. Dormer." Snyder held out his hand and they shook.

Faith was relieved that he didn't offer to shake her hand as well. She wasn't sure if she would have vomited or just crushed it. But she really didn't want to touch him.

"Mr. Snyder, this is the niece that I mentioned, Faith." Diana waved to Faith.

She and Snyder locked in a staring contest. But Faith had faced down far scarier things than him. Last night even. Plus, she had all day. Eventually, Snyder realized that he wasn't going to win this fight and it would be best to back off now and save face. Score one for the new Slayer in town.

* * *

Faith was lost in flashbacks as she slowly walked to the only room she had regularly visited here, the library. Xander's goofy smile. His scars. His eye. His calm efficiency in the face of horrible demons. They hadn't been apart for more than a few weeks since she'd brought him back from Africa and it had been several months now since she'd seen him. She hadn't realized how much she'd miss him until she was alone in Boston.

Truly alone too. The man had ruined her for other men. No longer could she just 'get some and get gone'. She was going to make him beg for that one.

Then she opened the doors to the library and there he was. Goofy grin and everything.

But it wasn't him. Wasn't him by a long shot. Barely even a whisper of the demon hunter called Xander Harris. This kid, was just that. A kid. Scared as any kid but not yet scarred like her man was. She felt her shoulders slump as she stopped in the entry way.

She was vaguely aware of Giles standing and saying something but she couldn't hear. Couldn't comprehend anything. Xander was gone. She'd been alone for so long the fact that she'd let him in had surprised them both. But she had and he'd stayed and they were inseparable soon after. And now he was gone. He hadn't left her like she'd always feared. Instead, she had left him. Left him alone with no one to watch his blind side.

She turned and ran.

She, the Dark Slayer. The thing that nightmares had nightmares about. Ran and cried in the girl's bathroom because some little boy with a goofy smile and bad taste in clothes reminded her too much of her husband.

Her late husband. Might as well start thinking of herself as a widow now because he was gone and she was never getting him back.

...

No. She was Faith the Fucking Vampire Slayer and no fucking way was she going to let some measly vengeance demon keep her and Xander apart. Just stick to the plan. She was going to sit on the Hellmouth and wait for that Anya. And if _she_ couldn't do it then she'd beat it out of D'Hoffryn. She took a deep breath and wiped her face. It was then that she realized that someone was calling her name and starting to sound a bit frantic.

"Faith!" DD yelled and pounded.

"Yeah?" she opened the stall door.

"Are you...? I mean I was calling..." DD stammered.

"M'fine. Just some memories. Surprised me is all." Faith stepped past her watcher and went to the sink. She washed her face. "See? All better. Though it's a good thing I don't wear so much makeup any more. That cake batter took forever to apply."

It was time to face the music.

* * *

_Faith didn't see Xander again for a couple weeks. She didn't talk to anyone in the old gang while she was in England, just hopped on a plane for America. Once there she took up her old life and rode her bike up and down both North and South America killing demons as she went. In a demon bar just south of the US border, he sat down next to her and ordered a beer. He had his blind side toward her; she wasn't sure if that was a show of faith or if he just wanted to keep his eye on the other patrons more than he did her._

"_The council would like you to stop shaking down demons for spending money." he told his beer._

"_The council can kiss my ass." she replied as she took a sip of her own beer._

"_It's not that bad, Faith. You promise to be good and Buffy signs you a big, fat check. You should get it while you can and hold out for back pay too." Xander sipped his drink._

"_What do you mean, 'get it while you can'?" she queried. _

_Xander turned to look at her. "Come on. Who do you think taught Anya her business sense? She was an excellent student, I'll admit. But Buffy... not so much. She's burning through centuries of capital paying all the Slayers. I'm just saying that you should get yours before it's all gone."_

"_What? I thought they were super-rich and shit." Faith said, surprised._

"_I know, right? I thought that too. But I really only saw anyone besides Giles and Wesley twice and both times they were trying to show Buffy who was boss. I think it warped our perceptions." Xander shook his head. "But when you think about it makes sense. Before Buffy, they were only ever supporting one Slayer at a time. And, sure they had to buy a new set of weapons every six months or so, but except for travel and logistical expense reimbursements the council never paid watchers much and Slayers nothing."_

"_Cheap bastards." Faith spat._

"_Broke bastards." Xander corrected. "I know Buffy likes to point out that the council is older than the Vatican, but the Vatican has millions of people donating millions of dollars to it every week. I found some of their financial records in a safe house in Rome. The records were from before World War Two so I think they were hedging their bets in case Britain lost. But anyway, at least before WW2 most of the council expenditures were either expenses related to getting watchers and Slayers where they needed to be or for making sure they were armed when they got there. And they just didn't have much in the way of income. A few properties they rented out and selling the odd priceless relic that a Slayer found."_

"_And now there's no more income?" Faith guessed. _

_Xander shrugged. "She's selling off every relic that's not evil. And she's flooding the market so we're getting less with every sale."_

_Faith sighed. "Fine. I'll think about it. Is that it?" she finished off her beer._

"_No." Xander finished his as well. "They also assigned me to be your watcher."_

"_Why the fuck would they do that? We don't even like each other." she turned to face him._

"_No one else would take you." he told her plainly. "I'm supposed to and I quote 'rein her in a bit'. Unquote."_

"_Or else what? They send the guys in black pajamas again?" Faith's tone got hard._

"_Nah. Turns out they were only contracted for limited engagements. And Buffy has no interest in paying them another dime." Xander soothed. "Listen. This isn't a bad deal. You've got eight years of back pay coming. Plus hazard pay for time on the Hellmouth. All you have to do let me follow you around a bit, let me know what and how many you slay, and cut back on shaking down living demons."_

"_Just the living ones?" Faith caught the allusion and gave an evil grin. _

_Xander's smile matched her own. "As long as there aren't any witnesses to whine to the council."_

_Faith considered that for a moment, finished her beer then turned and walked towards the exit. "How much money we talkin'? And we're taking **my** bike."_

"_A lot of money." Xander answered the first question. "And we'll each take our own bikes."_

_Faith stopped as she reached the parking lot and eyed the bike that was parked next to hers. It was clearly Xander's. She could see the pistol grip of a shotgun camouflaged into the body of the bike. And she could tell the two flags on the back hid sharpened spears. "Nice bike. Surprised you don't have an AK strapped somewhere."_

"_Under the seat." he commented offhandedly as he mounted up. "Where to, boss?"_

"_Boss?" she was a bit taken aback as she too mounted. No one had ever called her 'boss' before._

"_You're the Slayer. I'm just the watcher. I follow you. I let the council know we're still alive, how many things we've killed recently, and where to send our paychecks. Other than that; it's all on you." he smiled brightly. The effect was somewhat ruined by the eyepatch and the helmet he put on._

"_First thing you're going to do is make me some of those flag-spears you got on your bike."_

* * *

The second time entering the Library went much better, though Faith grimaced at the first impression she had made. "Bad sushi." she explained.

"For breakfast?" Cordelia asked holding Xander's hand.

Cordy and Xander were together. She really hadn't been expecting that. She had blocked out that they had ever dated at all in fact. But now a few things were coming back from her first days on the Hellmouth. "Left over from last night. Thought it was still okay. Guess not." she covered.

"Man, all slayers must be idiots or something." Cordy shook her head.

Faith was a bit nonplussed. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to say something like that to her and mean it. Then again, the Cordy she knew had been dead for a while and no one outside their group would have dared insult the Slayers. Especially not her.

Faith's staring caused Giles to jump in. "Ms. Chase is a friend of Buffy, my- my own Slayer. As are all the students in the Library currently. They are all aware of the supernatural world and occasionally assist Buffy in her- in her slaying. ... When she's here."

Faith noticed Giles then. Wow, she had forgotten how young he was when they'd first met. Hot too. If she was stuck here and Xander was dating Cordy, maybe she could grapple with him. "Hey. It's- five by five with me." she had stopped using that expression a long time ago and it no longer came as naturally as it once had. But it had been a term associated with her at one point and she wanted to keep it like that. "I was never big with the secret identity thing anyways." Which was true. She and Buffy were (or had been) about equally famous, but whereas Buffy had mostly retired/taken a desk job after Sunnydale, Faith had kept right on going for years afterwards. She had killed thousands of demons and hung out in demon bars around the world. Demons had known her by name, face, and reputation while Buffy had only been a name.

Introductions out of the way, DD left to do... whatever it was that watchers did while their Slayers were in school. Faith promised to talk weapons and training with Giles later; she wanted to make sure there were some spears stashed around the school. They were attacked here far too often if memory served. Then she left with Willow, Xander and Cordelia.

The three Sunnydalers detailed most of the events that had happened on campus, including both Spike and Angelus' attacks, as they gave her a tour.

"You guys are a hoot and a half." she said honestly. The Xander and Willow she knew didn't laugh or tell stories like this quite as much. Future Cordelia was also on the quiet side what with the being dead and all. She missed that.

Still, she missed _her_ Xander more and seeing this kid make out with Cordelia was turning her stomach.

They said their goodbyes and headed to class. As she walked away Faith could hear Cordelia say "Man, did you see the way she looked at me? What a bitch."

"Yeah Cordelia." Xander agreed sarcastically. "It couldn't have anything to do with you calling her an idiot earlier, could it?"

* * *

Faith agreed to meet the gang in front of the Bronze that night from where they'd show her the town's real nightlife. She was pretty sure she remembered the way to the club. But there was one thing she needed to do first. She got some money from DD but explained only that it was personal, she bought a mini fridge and a gallon bucket of pig's blood from the butcher. Buying the blood while the sun still shined made the butcher much less nervous. She then took both things to the mansion on Crawford street. She had no idea when Angel would return except that it was after Buffy got back so he shouldn't have been there yet. She unpacked the fridge and plugged it in a back room. She left the shelves out and just stuck the bucket of blood in there. She pulled a paper wrapped bendy-straw from her pocket and set it on the fridge. When Angel returned, she'd be ready.

* * *

A/N: Technically Xander and Cordelia spent the first episode of S.3 (and the first day and night of school) getting back together. Skipping that because... ok just because.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

* * *

Faith showed up at the Bronze to find the three joined by Oz. Everyone but Cordy looked ready to slay something with at least a stake and maybe a cross. Cordy looked like she could be ready to slay or walk down a runway. Even her shoes looked practical, yet stylish. Faith just shook her head.

Oz spotted her first and brought the others across the street to where she was carrying six spears.

"What's with the poles? We going camping?" Xander joked.

"Slaying." Faith unshouldered her spears.

"But- I thought you needed stakes to slay?" Willow cried, pulling her own out. "I mean, it's tradition. Isn't it?" she turned questioningly to Oz.

"Wood through the heart. Decapitation. Fire. Sunlight." Faith ticked off on her fingers. "If you have enough holy water, you can get them that way too. Or wood through the brain, but that's hard even with Slayer strength unless you get lucky and catch one under the throat." she finished her list. "Those are the ways to kill vamps. No one ever said the piece of wood you use has to be small. It's just convenient to keep a stake on hand at all times." She pulled one from a pocket, flashed it, and put it away. "If you hunt with me, you carry a spear until you learn another way. End of story. Or I'll escort you home right now."

"We're going to look stupid." Cordelia complained.

"Better than looking dead. Trust me, even you can't pull off dead-chic. Last two Slayers never thought to carry a spear and they both died within about a year or so. But let me show you what I'm talking about." she threw a spear to Xander, who caught it. "Defensive stance." she ordered.

Xander automatically took up a ready stance that a soldier might have used if he was about to fight with a bayonet.

Faith walked up and put the point of the spear right in her chest. Then she stuck her arms forward and wiggled her fingers. "See? Can't reach." Without warning, she knocked the spear aside and stepped past. "Draw your stake." she ordered.

Xander did as he was told and put the stake in the same place the spear had been.

Faith wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Stakes put you in range of being bitten." she knocked the stake away and gave a mock bite towards him. Cordelia glared at her after that move. _Hey, no one ever called Faith subtle. _she thought as she breathed on Xander's neck and smirked at the reaction she produced from the kid.

They walked to a more secluded place where Faith gave them the basics. Keep the point between them and the vamp. The basic two handed thrust. Not overbalancing when they thrust. Thrusting and pulling back as quickly as possible so vamps couldn't catch their spear. And teamwork. It certainly hadn't been her intention to train them when she came here. But seeing how poorly trained they were, she worried that it had just been sheer luck that they'd survived the first time and was determined not to lose anyone.

"Good enough for now." Faith stated. "I'll get one of the watchers to give you guys some real lessons. I'm not much of a teacher. Rule number one is 'Don't die'. Follow that one and we'll be fine."

"That's a good rule." Xander noted. Cordelia elbowed him.

* * *

It had been two weeks since Faith came to Sunnydale and the Scoobies were patrolling with Faith and DD watching their backs. Diana glanced at Faith when two vampires appeared. She had been against involving the civilians at all and very much against taking them on patrol. But Faith had very quietly insisted. She hadn't even threatened at all, which was something she and Xander... Best not to think about that.

The four of them were now working as a team. A rough and almost untrained team compared to the Slayer teams she was used to working with; but a team none the less. And they attacked the two vampires as a team. Confident thanks to several weeks of training and fighting. They also gained confidence knowing that the Slayer and the watcher were backing them up, ready to step in if anything went wrong. And Faith did have to step in many, many times that first week. But less and less as their experience quickly grew. Faith gave a small smile as the second vamp turned to dust without her having to lift a finger. Two vamps at a time. Something they couldn't have even thought of two weeks ago.

"You are giving them a false sense of security." DD whispered.

Faith frowned. She her memories of her first watcher were clearly idealized because there was no way she would have gotten along with this fuddy-duddy otherwise. "I don't think it counts as false when they take out two without me helping. And they took out a group of three last night." she whispered back.

"A group of five which you reduced to three with your bow. _And_ they were keeping an eye on you while they fought the children. They were distracted."

"Vamps need to learn to fight distracted then. Think of it like a vaccine. You give people weakened diseases for your body to fight off. I'm giving them fledgelings to cut their teeth on. Let them find their strength. Because you're looking at some of the best demon fighters in the world. They just don't know it yet." Faith's stomach clenched when Xander and Cordelia kissed. She forced herself not to look at DD. The watcher was already aware that Faith disliked the relationship between Xander and Cordelia, but she hadn't brought it up so she probably didn't know exactly why even if she could guess.

"Buffy!" was the cry that brought her out of her reverie.

_Buffy. Already? A fresh start with B. Well here goes nothin. _ She walked over to where the mob was surrounding the petite Slayer. "You must be Buffy. The gang's been telling me all about you." Faith offered her her hand. "I'm Faith."

Buffy took it.

"And I'm her watcher, Diana Dormer. You may call me Diana when we are out in the field."

"I just call her Double D." Faith nudged her watcher playfully.

"Though I've asked her many times not to." the watcher gave a resigned sigh. That was one habit she could not cure her of. Like the foul language. But she was kicking the smoking habit, which was good. Apparently, she'd kicked it in the future, but her younger body was still addicted. It was rough having to conquer an addition twice.

"You're a Slayer?" Buffy looked surprised.

"Yeah. I cleaned up Boston and then we heard that you might need some help here." Faith waved to the gang. "Turns out they were already covering for you. I gave 'em some stakes with a little more reach and a few pointers then sent them on their way."

"That's not true." Willow squeaked. "She was totally covering our backs the whole time, Buffy. Last night she took out two vamps with her bow and then gave the evil eye to the other three while we dusted them."

Buffy looked at the redhead in shock. "You guys dusted three vampires? By yourselves?"

"That's nothing. You should have seen the demonstration she gave on the group of seven." Xander added. "Took out six of them with her spear like _that_," he snapped. "and then herded the seventh back to us to finish off."

"Wow, she's... amazing." Buffy replied sullenly.

"Don't sweat it, B. I got enough spears for everyone and I'll show you all my moves." There was no way in hell she was going to show Buffy_ all_ her moves. But most of them. All of them she'd used in SunnyD at least. But the conversation was already moving on.

"...this morning. I- I wanted to spend some time with my Mom first."

"You talk to Giles yet?" Xander asked seriously.

* * *

And suddenly they were in front of Giles' crib. Faith wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten dragged along but Willow had been insistent. After greetings and a really bad joke from Xander (_he gets better_, she told herself) they were all seated around Giles' coffee table. Or was it tea table? The man hardly ever drank coffee.

"I got in a few hours ago, but I wanted to go see my mom first."

Giles nodded. "Yes. Yes, of course. How, how did you find her?"

"Well, I pretty much remembered the address." Buffy quipped.

"Ah, yes, I mean, uh... How are things between you?" Giles was interrupted by his teakettle. "Ah. Excuse me." Diana got up to help him, leaving the kids alone for a moment.

Oz took the opportunity to mention, "Hey, so you're not wanted for murder anymore."

"Good. That was such a drag." Buffy joked.

"I know, right? It probably sucks even more since you didn't even get to kill the guy first." Faith was now able to joke about her past. "I mean, prison is better than school and all. But it's a lot easier to take when you actually deserve it." she deadpanned. Luckily no one here knew her past and they just assumed that she was joking.

"What about you, Xander? What's up with you?" Buffy wanted to move the conversation away from murder.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old." he joked.

Cordelia took his hand. "Hardly."

Faith felt her stomach clench.

Xander broke out in a smile, "Okay, I lied, a whole lot is new."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Buffy looked to Willow, "New is good. Right?" seeing if Willow was okay with the Xander/Cordelia situation.

"Oh yes." Willow grabbed Oz's hand to show how much she was in love with Oz. "New is good."

"Yes, though there were those last couple weeks where her parents dragged her away for a luxury vacation." Xander joked.

"I know!" Cordelia cried. "I so didn't want to go. I mean, Cancun? Uhh."

Buffy patted Cordy's knee, "I feel for you."

Giles and Diana returned with two trays of tea and biscuits, or cookies as they were called here. "Here we are then." he said.

Buffy, Faith and Willow each grabbed a cookie. Faith just looked at hers though. "Okay, I get the whole Soccer/Football different name thing. But what I don't get is how we can both have things called biscuits and they can be so different. I mean, down south biscuits and gravy is almost a delicacy. But you try ordering that shit in England and they look at you weird. Or worse, they give you cookies smothered in beef gravy. Why would you call cookies, biscuits?"

"That is a good question, actually." Oz turned towards the British pair.

"We don't have biscuits as you know them. We have crumpets." Giles answered patiently.

"Perhaps scones would be the closest analogue?" Diana offered.

That being out of the way, Giles searched for a way to break the ice about her time away gently. He needn't have bothered with Cordelia there. "So were you, like, living in a box, or what?" she asked bluntly.

Buffy closed off immediately. "Well, it's a long story."

Faith recognized that B wasn't up to talking yet. "Let's skip it then."

Giles glanced appreciatively at Faith. "Yes. Perhaps Buffy could use a little time to adjust before we grill her on her summer activities."

Buffy quickly agreed.

"Fair enough," Xander allowed. "Faith's been helping us with the slaying. So if you need some time, we got you covered."

Buffy nodded. "I noticed. You guys seem down with the slayage, all tricked out with your spears and everything."

"Yeah, but the outfits suck. This whole Rambo thing is so over. I'm thinking more sporty, like Hilfiger maybe."

"Still, we're getting good. We dusted 20 between us." Willow insisted.

"Twenty-three." Oz corrected.

"Twenty-three." Willow repeated.

"And we have backup. So you don't have to worry about anyone getting hurt." Xander noted. "Take your time, ease yourself back into it."

"Well, thank you for the offer," Buffy said, "but I think I just wanna get back to my normal routine. School, slaying... you know, kid's stuff. In fact, I'm jonesing for a little brainless fun." she turned to Xander, "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Xander was tied up but Willow agreed to coffee. Faith invited herself along.

* * *

After seeing her team and her watcher to their homes, Faith stopped by the butcher's for some fresh blood. She carried it to the mansion and replaced the stuff there that was forming some sort of crust. She took that to the nearest cemetery and popped the top off the plastic bucket before setting it on the ground. She climbed a large tree nearby and settled in to wait.

A mini Slayer from West Virginia named Mary-Beth had introduced Faith and Xander to the joys of hunting vampires from a tree stand. She had been an active bow hunter before being called and transferred her skills directly to killing vamps. The council had been... slow to capitalize on this new technique. Just as they had been slow on picking up spears even after the African Slayers had showed them what was what. But that had suited Faith, Mary-Beth, and Xander just fine. Fewer people using the technique meant it was more effective for them. The three of them hunted together for a couple months. Xander's metalworking skills weren't quite as good as his woodworking skills, but he dusted them off to weld two steel bows for the Slayers that no normal human on earth could have a prayer of drawing. All he asked in trade was Mary-Beth's old bow that was nothing more than a toy for her now anyways.

A lot of the time, Faith got too impatient sitting in the trees and ran off to play bait for the demons to bring them back to the other two. She loved fighting them right under Xander's tree. He called it providing covering fire. The demons just called it unfair.

Eventually, Faith and Xander went on their way. Mary-Beth thanked them for teaching her and for the new bow.

Faith pulled herself from her reverie as a vampire followed its nose to the sent of fresh blood. It wasn't a master vamp. Masters could control themselves well enough to fall for someone just leaving blood out as bait. But this was a good way to winnow the minions. She pulled back her bow and loosed. The dust floated to the ground and she smiled. Wondering what Mary-Beth was doing right then. Considering she wasn't even 10 yet, probably not out hunting. Then again, knowing Mary-Beth, maybe she was.

* * *

A/N: It's unclear as to how long it was before Buffy came back but the jump in tactics the Scoobies showed from Ep 1 and Ep 2 leads me to believe it was at least a week or two.

Thanks to Cutiepie for pointing out that Faith would have to change the blood.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Buffy and Faith sipped their mochas at the Espresso Pump.

"So yeah, long story short, Snyder's not letting me back in... for now. And where's Willow? She said she was going to meet us here."

"Have you said you're sorry yet?" Faith asked.

"I'm not saying I'm sorry to Snyder." Buffy insisted vehemently.

"Not Snyder. Your friends. Look, your mom kicked you out, if you want to let her twist until she says it first, then I'm with you. I ran away plenty in my day. But I told my friends where I was. Hell, just last month, Double D and me had a huge fight. I ended up staying in a motel on the other side of the city. But, you know what? I called her every morning with the slaying numbers. Now, I may have hung up on her before she could say anything, but I fucking called her. Let her know I was alive."

Buffy was on her feet by that time and walking away with Faith following close behind. "You don't understand." Buffy insisted.

Faith ran beside her, "You can't outrun me B. And we're having this conversation whether you like it or not. So tell me what I don't understand. That Red did the spell too late and you had to send your boyfriend to hell instead of the monster?"

Buffy stopped in her tracks. "How...?"

"Watchers are smart people, Buffy." Faith used her full name and walked a little closer. "The spell worked but he still got sent. Which meant you sent Angel and not Angelus."

"You don't understand what it was like." Buffy whispered.

Faith took her by the shoulders. "I'm no girl-scout. I have done some heinous shit in my day. But, you're right, sending a boyfriend to a hell dimension has not been one of my crimes. But I did try to choke out a boyfriend once. He was trying to help me and I turned on him. The first step to mending that was saying 'I'm sorry'."

* * *

"_I'm sorry." Faith peeked from behind cover and fired an arrow._

"_What?" Xander shouted as he too fired._

"_I'm sorry. For everything." Faith said quietly._

_Xander gave her a crooked smile and tossed his bow next to his AK. They were almost out of arrows anyway. He pulled a spear. "Me too."_

* * *

"That's it? You said 'I'm sorry' and he forgave you for trying to kill him?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"He was a pretty special guy." Faith smiled. "And we both agreed that neither of us was sure if I was trying to kill him or just choke him unconscious."

"Whatever. I don't have anything to be sorry for. They're the ones who should be sorry. No one told me they were going to restore his soul." Buffy insisted.

"Everyone did everything in their power to save the world. And it cost us a powerful champion and a friend." Faith told her softly.

"It wasn't fair." Buffy collapsed into tears and Faith's arms.

Faith took it stoically. She reminded herself that Future Buffy would be able to handle shit like this without coming crying to her. She could take one for the team for now. Even if she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk holding the crying girl. Ugh.

"Thanks." Buffy said once she was cried out.

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Ever." Faith told her. "Now go apologize to your friends."

"I still don't-"

"You ran out on them, B." Faith cut her off. "You spent two years with them without giving them any training. Introduced them to the darkest side of the world and then ran out on them. You're fucking lucky none of them died over the summer."

"They should have stayed inside and not gotten involved!" Buffy countered.

"They couldn't! You opened their eyes and they couldn't look away. Let me ask you something. After the Master, if you had come back to life without your powers, would you have still fought?" Faith pointed out.

Buffy thought for a second.

Faith snorted. "Of course you would have. Don't even pretend like you could have ignored it. So, you abandoned your friends to the mouth of hell and now they're pissed at you. It's understandable. 'Sorry' doesn't really cover the shit you dumped on them, but you've got some pretty cool friends. I'm sure they'll forgive you eventually."

"Eventually?"

"Groveling may be involved. But Cordy will probably put down a blanket so you don't get grass stains on your pants." Faith joked.

* * *

Dinner the next night was a thoroughly uncomfortable affair. But Faith had warned everyone that would be the case when she nixed plans for a so-called hootenanny; but it needed to be done. Giles was busy researching a zombie cat that had found its way into Joyce's bedroom. Faith didn't remember anything about it and so wasn't any help. His place at the table was taken by a woman who was not in the know, which limited the conversations that would otherwise be taking place. On the plus side, the woman positively would _not_ shut up, which meant that everyone else was saved from having to contribute much.

"You ready?" Faith asked Buffy.

"Yes, but..." Buffy nodded to Pat.

Faith nodded back. She stood up and pulled Pat to her feet and started guiding her to the door. "Sorry whatever your name is. But Buffy's got some private shit she needs to tell everyone. So thanks for the Mexican crap. Have a nice night." she pushed Pat out the door and closed it behind her.

"Faith! Buffy!" Joyce stood to protest the treatment of her friend.

Buffy stood and looked around the table. "I'm sorry."

Joyce sat back down and shut up. _Pat could choke on her empanadas. They were dry anyway._

Faith was still by the door, praying she hadn't seen what she thought she saw. She peeked out the window. Zombies. She opened the door, ran out, grabbed Pat, and dragged her back inside. "Sorry everyone." she interrupted just as Buffy was getting going. "Apology's gonna have to wait. We got zombies across the street and headed this way. Grab your spears."

Xander, Oz, and Willow jumped up and grabbed their spears from near the door.

Cordelia shrugged from her chair, "Mine's in my car."

"Too far." Faith stated. "B, you arm up and grab something for Queen-I'm-too-lazy-to-bring-my-spear-with-me. Cordy. You stay inside and guard Joyce and... her" she waved her hand in Pat's direction.

Buffy raced upstairs while Cordy pouted.

"Everyone else: how do you kill a zombie?"

"Cut off its head." Oz offered.

Faith rolled her eyes. "How do you kill a zombie with a spear?"

"Stab it in the head?" Xander took a guess.

"Good. Now technique is important here because skulls are hard, thick, and designed to stop this kind of thing from happening. So, your best bets are to go for the eyes if you have really good aim. Or the easier way is to," Faith lifted her head and rubbed her neck right under her chin. "aim for right about here with an upwards thrust. It's unprotected and you can go straight to the brain. It's also good for killing vampires and just about anything else because a neck has to be flexible by nature and that means it's usually lightly armored."

"That true?" Buffy came back downstairs with two axes and a sword.

"Yep." Faith confirmed. "Okay. B and me'll clear the doorway and the porch. We'll call 'clear' when we're ready for you." Faith took the sword from Buffy in her right hand while Cordy took a smaller ax.

Faith and Buffy cut through the first ranks of zombies that had made it to the yard with spears, sword, and ax. Faith looked around before yelling, "Clear!"

The three Scoobies poured out of the door with efficiency. Faith was proud to note that their spears were ready and all of them checked their surroundings, not just taking her word for it. "Line up here." she ordered. "Take em as they come. B and me'll guard the flanks."

The battle was going well. The zombies moved so slowly that they were quite the letdown after vampires. Buffy and Faith weren't even needed to help yet.

"Cordy!" Xander called. "Do you want a try?"

"Sure!" she ran out and traded weapons with him. Xander ran back inside with his ax.

"Switch hands everyone." Faith ordered. "This is a good chance to get some experience with your off hand."

The sound of the phone ringing carried from inside the house. Joyce answered. "Hello Mr. Giles... Buffy's out front dealing with some zombies. Did you want to talk to her?... No, I think they have it pretty well taken care of... My mask?... Destroy it? Are you sure?..."

A crash told of the backdoor being broken through.

"B, take the backdoor." Faith ordered. "Xander, go with Joyce and smash whatever Giles says is causing this." Faith walked to the right of the house where some zombies were about to flank the three fighters. It wasn't so much tactics as that they happened to be coming from a different direction, probably buried in a different cemetery. That dealt with she trotted back to the left flank. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but there seemed to be more zombies coming faster. She gave a quick glance to make sure the kids were all okay.

Suddenly all the zombies disappeared.

"Man, I love those self-cleaning monsters." Faith commented as she stumbled and recovered from a spear thrust that found no resistance. She turned back to the house to see Buffy and her mom coming out the front door propping Pat up between them. "Now that is what I call a welcome home party!" she yelled.

Buffy and Joyce both glared at her.

"What? She'll wake up tomorrow and remember a great party." Faith declared. It was probably true.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Days passed. Buffy's apology after the excitement of being attacked by zombies had more or less wiped the slate clean. The thrill of still being alive after a battle probably helped everyone let bygones be bygones. Buffy soon got back into school and the old band was back together plus a kick-ass lead guitarist in Faith. Maybe it was the shared misery of attending classes and studying together that helped them bond more this time. Because Faith found that she had forgotten everything she'd ever once learned in school. Willow and DD helped tutor her. And the four Slayerettes still patrolled together with either Buffy or Faith watching their backs while the other Slayer patrolled alone. Slayers needed a little alone time, Faith knew that from experience. She and Buffy more than most.

"She won't let us take on more than one vamp at a time." Willow confided one day while they were studying.

"Huh?"

"Buffy!" Willow continued. "She won't let us fight more than one vamp at a time, even when there's four of us."

"So?" Faith grinned internally but kept her face neutral. "If you want to face more vamps, you're going to have to face Buffy first."

"But- but..." Willow started turning red.

"Not my fight, Red." Faith patted her shoulder. "But I'm sure if all four of you team up on her, you can take her." she gave an evil smile.

Willow gave a pitying mew and tried to give her the puppy dog eyes.

Faith just laughed. "That kinda shit don't work on me. We're not dating and I ain't your girlfriend." she waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Unless you're offering?"

Willow meeped.

Faith just laughed harder. "That's okay. It still wouldn't work on me."

* * *

The watchers were also falling into a rhythm. With the non-Slayer members committed to learning to fight, and one watcher being enough to train two Slayers at the same time when they had a fellow Slayer to pound on instead of a watcher, that left one watcher free to train the humans.

Diana taught the spear that she was already familiar with thanks to Faith. She also taught dirty fighting. She was such a nice, matronly looking woman that you wouldn't think her capable of some of the dirty moves she knew. She also taught catch-as-catch-can wrestling. An English form of submission wrestling. She even showed how a weaker opponent could overcome a stronger opponent this way by using Buffy as her assistant. Buffy's look of surprise when DD put her in an armbar she couldn't break using force was almost worth coming back in time to see. Almost.

"The point of this isn't to encourage you to wrestle with vampires. That is extremely dangerous. Even for Slayers. The point is to teach you not to panic, even if you are knocked down. Even if a vampire is on top of you and about to bite, there are ways to escape and I'm going to teach you all of them." Diana promised.

Giles covered the more traditional forms. Such as boxing, sword fighting, and introducing them all to archery and crossbows. Cordelia was a surprise as something of a natural with the bow. Actually, she tended to be at the head of the class for all the weapons.

"Once you memorize the motion and the position you're supposed to be in, it's easy." she explained. No one bothered to explain to her how hard it was for normal people.

It had taken Faith much longer to learn than that. But that was okay with Faith as that left her with plenty of one-on-one time as she tried to teach Xander how to shoot. Or rather, while she tried to distract him as he was trying to shoot. It was a lot of fun trying to make him uncomfortable. And once she was done distracting him, he actually started shooting straight.

Willow and Oz were getting instruction from DD on how to shoot crossbows and Faith caught Willow glaring daggers at her. Faith couldn't help but smirk, it was just too funny that Willow could be jealous of Faith's attention towards Xander while standing next to her supposed boyfriend. But she shrugged it off and left the kids alone to practice while she and Buffy sparred under Giles' supervision.

After the workout Faith talked Giles into purchasing a proper bow and a set of wooden arrows for Cordelia right away. The others needed more practice before they tried taking on a vamp with a bow or crossbow, but there was no way that she was leaving Cordy without a bow. That would just be a waste of good talent.

* * *

"Okay, new rule. Cordy isn't allowed to shoot until we see the yellow of their eyes." Xander complained.

"Hey! It's not my fault you guys suck at the bow and arrow." Cordy preened. She had gotten pretty good and could usually dust vamps if they were standing still, coming straight at, or running straight away from her. Oh and as long as their wasn't much wind, like tonight. She wasn't an expert but it was still better than the others could do with a bow.

Faith came up and joined the group. "You should leave them at least one or two in each group, Cord."

"What if there's only one?" the cheerleader asked.

"You get them if they try to run, otherwise let the spears have 'em." Faith ordered. And plenty of vamps were starting to run. Word had gotten out somehow and individual vamps were now avoiding the Scoobies.

Cordelia sighed as if horribly put upon. "Fi-ine."

Faith just smirked. Cordy was a talented bow-woman, but she was not good at working with a group. "Corporal Harris, lead 'em out."

"That's _Private_ Harris, ma'am." He replied almost automatically.

"You're squad leader. You've just been promoted." Faith answered.

"Hey! Why is he the leader? Why not... you know... me?" Cordy complained.

"Everyone with any military training, whether mystically gained or not, please raise your hand." Faith raised her hand. As did Xander.

* * *

_When the watchers had eventually reconciled with the US army, Faith and Xander had been selected as the official liaisons for whatever reason. Personally, she thought it was Buffy's idea of a joke or an attempt to submarine relations with the army before they got chummy. Xander had done most of the talking and in the end, they were offered special commissions as Lieutenant Colonels that would allow them to take command with reduced red-tape in the event of an apocalyptic situation. They initially declined the offer but after some negotiating, Xander said they would accept but only after they successfully completed OCS._

_Faith had wanted to smack him. Twelve weeks of hanging out with a bunch of uptight, wannabe soldiers was not her idea of a fun three months._

_To say that OCS was a surprise to her would be an understatement. Firstly, the students were not nearly as bad as she thought they'd be. They were just regular people who wanted to help their country. All of them were intelligent. Plenty of the instructors had sticks up their asses, but apparently that was inserted later. Plus, she learned a lot of cool shit. Demolitions had certainly been her favorite. Blowing shit up never got old. But survival training and leadership training both paid huge dividends later in life._

_After training they both received their special commissions, as full-bird Colonels._

* * *

"When did you-" Xander began.

"Later." she cut him off.

"Yes, ma'am. You heard the lady, let's move out." Xander ordered.

* * *

Faith was having such a good time that she almost forgot to check the mansion to see if Angel had come back. There was no Angel, but there was a scorch mark she recognized, where Angel's body had protected the cement underneath from scorching. "Hello?" she called. "Angel?"

With a roar, he attacked. _Buffy seemed to have forgotten to mention that Angel had been completely __insane when he got back, _Faith mused._ She'd also forgot to mention how he__'d__ came back completely nude. Not that __I'm__ complaining, it __i__s a very nice sight to see. _ The fight didn't last long, she was a very experienced Slayer and he was a weakened and mad vampire and she eventually knocked him unconscious. _Now, where did __I__ put those chains?_

She chained him up securely then got the blood she had stored out of the fridge. After so many weeks, it probably wasn't the freshest, but it didn't smell off. She'd feed this to him for now and get some new stuff tomorrow.

She also found his bedroom, with his clothes still there. She found a pair of sweats and put those on his unconscious form. Shame to hide something that sweat, but he'd be embarrassed enough when he regained his mind. She went and got a cup of blood for him and putting a straw in it, she carried it back to the main room to wait for him to wake up.

* * *

She woke up the next morning to Angel's chains rattling. He growled and snapped at her.

"Hello, Angel. How are we feeling today? Would you like some blood?" she brought the cup of now lukewarm blood over to him.

He growled, snapped, and strained at his chains. She edged the cup forward until the straw hit his lips. Apparently, sucking blood through a straw was not a skill he had lost in Acathla's hell dimension. She had looked up the name only to realize she'd been saying Alcatha this whole time. When the first cup was finished, she got him another one. Talking the whole time about nothing but avoiding any words or names she thought might set him off. (Buffy, Xander, and definitely Buffy)

On the 8th cup he stopped drinking about halfway through. Faith figured he'd had enough for now. "Well, I hope you're good for now, I'll be back after school with some fresh blood." she assured him. Unsure if he understood or not. Either way, he seemed calmer now.

* * *

"Faith, where have you been? I've been worried sick!" DD exclaimed as she entered their apartment.

"Sorry. I was staking out a possible vamp nest and I- I'm lying. Okay, the truth. But you have to swear not to tell anyone until I say so. Telling them now will give them the wrong impression and just lead to trouble that no one needs. Swear?"

Diana took a deep breath. "I swear I will not tell anyone unless lives are at stake." So far, her decision not to tell the council hadn't blown up in her face. In for a penny, in for a pound.

That wasn't what Faith had requested and she took a moment to consider it. "Alright. He's locked up for now and will be perfectly safe again soon. But Angel's back."

"Angelus?" DD couldn't help but use the name for the demon.

"No. _ Angel._ As in Willow's spell worked, Buffy sent the ensouled Angel to a hell dimension where he was tormented for centuries because apparently time moved at a different rate there. No one knows or ever figured out how or why he came back, so don't ask. Why I asked you not to tell anyone is that he's pretty much feral right now. Something B forgot to mention the first time around, I guess. Along with the fact that he came back buck nekid." she grinned and licked her lips at her watcher and was rewarded with a blush. "Anyway, I know he gets better, I'm just not sure how long it will be. But I've got some pig's blood for him to eat for now. And I'll just wait until his brain comes back, I guess."

Diana sighed. "You're sure he gets better?"

"Very much so. Becomes quite the champion of good once he and B break up." Faith informed her.

"Very well, I will keep this a secret for you. Just please come home tonight?" she begged.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Fell asleep waiting for him to regain consciousness." Faith gave a small smile.

* * *

Faith followed Willow and Oz to the library. _Oh wow, massive flashbacks._ This had been her first case with the Scoobies even though she hadn't been here for this argument. Everyone was blaming Xander for possibly letting Oz out on a night when someone was mauled to death. She remembered that it hadn't been Oz though. It had been a student with a massive Dr. Jekyll complex.

"WOKE UP?!" Giles shouted at Xander.

"HEY!" Faith could shout with the best of them. And yelling at Xander was a sure way to tick her off. "The wolf wouldn't have come back to the cage if he got out. Oz, did you come back to the cage after you changed back?"

"No." said Oz, taciturn as ever.

"There. Wasn't Oz. And even if it was, it's not Xander's fucking fault. So lay the _fuck_ off." she shot a glare at Giles. A glare that had caused more than one demon to soil itself.

"Explain to me how it wouldn't be Xander's fault had Oz gotten loose and hurt someone." Giles glared back.

"Because Oz is the werewolf. No offense bud, I like you and all. (None taken) But the rest of us have lives that go on despite the wolf. Climbing out that window would have made enough noise to wake Xander, so... Back. Off." Faith was not backing down from this one and she stared the other watcher down.

Giles thought for a full minute and visibly calmed himself before being the first to back down. "I'm sorry, Xander. Perhaps Faith is right. It is unlikely that a werewolf would return to a cage had it gotten out."

"And I'm sorry for falling asleep." Xander offered, more to Oz than Giles but sincere enough that nobody questioned it.

"Great. Everyone's friends again. Let's see if we can't figure out what's actually killing people then." Faith suggested while trying to think back. This had been so long ago that the memories were very fuzzy.

* * *

The group met in the library after school to research, though Faith spent most of her time trying to remember. She turned down the request to babysit Oz saying she had training to do with her watcher and a few places she wanted to patrol. After school Faith went to the apartment she and DD shared. Her watcher drove them to the butcher for some fresh blood then to Angel's mansion.

"Hey buddy. I got fresh blood." she held up her bucket.

A growl was the only response but at least he didn't lunge.

"Are you _sure_ he gets better?" Diana asked nervously. Though she hid her fear well.

"Positive. And he saves a lot of people. He's already stopped lunging after just one day. So, that's really good. We didn't find out about him until... oh yeah. And he was better by then." Faith assured her.

"What was 'oh yeah'?" DD asked.

Faith waffled for a moment. "When they sent me my new watcher." she said as she filled a cup with blood. "Angel was better by then. But that's a couple months away. Anyway, once he's better, we need to take him to LA without B finding out. I remember her being a lot more depressed right now last time, I think hellboy here had something to do with that. I think it'll be better if she doesn't know about him for a while. A long while." she finished as Angel finished drinking the first cup.

Angel drank only 5 cups that time. She put the rest of the blood in the fridge and took out out the old blood. She'd use that as bait again later. Since Angel seemed to have calmed down drastically, Faith pulled the mattress off Angel's bed and dragged it over to where Angel was laying. "I know you don't get cold, but the hard ground can't be too comfortable to lay on. So here's your old bed." She moved it into position and Angel climbed on top. "Double-D and I are going to stay and talk for a while. Just listen for now. When you start to be able to speak, then we can talk about getting you out of those cuffs."

"Must you teach everyone that infernal name?" he watcher inquired.

"Yes."

Diana just sighed. "Very well. You said you remember this... case?"

"Yeah, they called themselves the Scooby Gang so anything that required research or investigation was a 'case'. Anything that didn't was usually a 'fight' or a 'battle'. Plus at least one apocalypse every year." Faith explained the terms.

"I see. Go on."

"I remember that it was some Dr. Jekyll kinda guy. He went from normal student to roid-rage monster. I just don't remember his name or what he looked like when not transformed."

"So it was some kind of potion he took?" the watcher extrapolated.

"Dunno. I remember it was about his girl though. Guy was crazy jealous. Tried to kill everyone that talked to her." Faith was remembering. "Didn't see her after that, so I'm pretty sure he killed her too." she snapped her fingers. "I don't remember the guy, but I remember the next victim. The school psychologist. But... he died quick. I'm remembering now. Can't just wait outside his office cause it would be over before I could help."

"I'll see if I can't get him to call in sick tomorrow. It does happen tomorrow, yes?" DD jotted in her notebook.

"I think so. What are you writing?" Faith asked.

"Notes. Things to do. This is my unofficial watcher's diary. It helps me organize my thoughts before committing everything to the official diary." she informed her charge.

Faith thought for a minute. "Okay. This stuff only goes in the unofficial diary until it happens, got it? This is just in case something happens to me." she waited until the watcher gave her word. She took a deep breath. "Gwen Post is evil, but you can wait until she gets here to do anything about it. I've been thinking a lot about her and that week over the years. The demon she sicked me on didn't attack me first. He beat me good but didn't kill me even when I was down. And there are such things as good demons. I've met them. And this time, I want to meet Lagos instead of fight him. If he turns out to be evil too, then I can kill him. But not before."

"Good demons?" Dormer wondered.

"Free will. Demons aren't above going native. And there's this demon karaoke bar we have to visit when we take Angel to LA. After you meet Lorne, you'll believe me. He's green with small, red horns but he's the sweetest guy I've ever met." Faith informed her. "Now the second thing is the Cruci-whatever-"

"Cruciamentum." DD supplied.

"Yeah, the test is over. Done. You don't give it to B. You don't give it to me. The council never gives it again."

"Faith, that's not up to me."

Faith just stared at her for a minute. She looked away and started pacing. The first had actually done them a favor when it had blown up the council. It had made reforms very easy since there was no one left to reform. And more importantly, the new council had left her and Xander mostly alone. She'd have to think about if, how, and when she could reform the council. But those plans were years off yet if ever.

"Fine. Buffy then. Swear to me, if anything happens to me, you'll warn her." Faith ordered.

"I swear. There will be no Cruciamentum for Buffy or you." DD agreed. She hadn't been sure she could go through it anyway. This made the decision easy.

"Alright, I think the only other thing you need to know right now is that the Mayor is planning to transform into a true demon. Ovalkwik? Something close to that." Faith silently cursed her Xander for turning her onto the webcomic Schlock Mercenary. Then again it had taught her the first maxim which had earned her plenty of money: Pillage first, then burn.

"Right."

"Oh. And when the sisterhood of... I forgot their names. Super-strong female demons trying to open the Hellmouth. Anyway, when they come to town there will also be some zombies trying to blow up the school in the boiler room. Xander took care of it himself originally. But if I change something, it will take at least two humans with balls of steel to do what he did." Faith smiled at the story she'd finally gotten most of from her husband. She was pretty sure he was still downplaying his role that night in saving everyone who was busy saving the world.

"That's it?"

"That's the Big Bads for the year. At least originally. There were vamps and demons every week too. But nothing major that I can remember." Faith finished.

"I can remember." came the whisper from the mattress.

* * *

A/N: Ovalkwik is from the webcomic Schlock Mercenary. As are The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries. Maxim #1: Pillage, then burn.

A/N: If you re-watch Revelations, you'll see that Lagos was not interested in killing anyone. Faith attacked him first, but even after defending himself, he didn't kill her. And he never drew the big ax strapped to his back, Buffy did. It's always made me wonder if the Slayers got the right demon that time. More of that theme to follow.


	7. Chapter 7

#"Demonic Language"#

Chapter 7.

"_I can remember." came the whisper from the mattress. _

Diana jumped just a bit but Faith turned smoothly. "Welcome back, big guy. You want some more blood?" At a nod she ran and got another cup. She handed it to him and let him drink it himself.

After he finished, he wiped his lips. "Who are you?" he asked as he handed the cup back.

"I'm Faith. This is my watcher, Double D. But you can call her Diana." Faith said as she took the cup.

"You're a Slayer? How long have I been gone?" Angel queried.

"Yes and a little less than six months." Faith replied.

"That's it?" Angel was astonished. "Where's Buffy?"

"You can't see Buffy." Faith said sadly.

"What happened?" Angel asked sadly.

"Nothing. Except that I'm from the future. And I can tell you that seeing Buffy only makes both of you really sad and no fun to be around. So you need to leave for LA before she hears about you." Faith explained.

"The future?" Angel asked incredulously.

"You spent a couple hundred years in a hell dimension and came back less than 6 months later. You want to argue with me about time travel? Or the future?" Faith laughed.

"But Buffy..."

"Is seeing someone. A human. Who makes her happy. And breaks up with her after you make her all mopey again. Cause, I love you Angel. But you take the mood of any room down 5 degrees. And I ain't talking about your body temperature." Faith said forcefully. "Do her a favor and let her be happy." She continued gently.

Angel's shoulders sank. "Do I know you? In the future?"

"Yeah. We fought together for a bit. So I returned the favor when your soul went walkabout again." Faith said.

"Again?" Angel was alarmed. "If that's going to happen, you should just stake me now."

"Ain't gonna happen, bud. I'll just give you this warning, you chose to take it out and it didn't really work. So just leave it in this time." Faith advised.

"Absolutely. I'll remember that." Angel agreed and raised his hands. "Now, can you unchain me?"

"Depends. Are you going to go straight to LA?" Faith raised an eyebrow.

Angel took a breath he didn't really need. "OK."

"Good. DD can drive you tonight." she started unlocking the manacles.

"Tonight?" Angel looked a little shocked.

"Faith are you sure that's wise?" DD asked from the couch. Not entirely at ease driving more than an hour with a vampire in her car.

"We wait and we risk B going back into full-blown depression." Faith eyed Angel, who nodded. "When you get to LA, you and DD should stop by this demon karaoke bar called Caritas. Sing for Lorne. Do Lorne a favor and don't sing Barry Manilow."

"How did you-"

"Future, remember?" Faith tapped her head. "I never heard you sing, but I heard about it. And both of you should practice in the car."

"Faith are you sure?" DD asked.

"I've never heard you sing either. But a little warm up can't hurt." Faith grinned.

"No. I mean-"

"I'd trust my life to Angel. And I have, too." she assured her watcher. "Give this envelope to Angel. It has details about an upcoming Big Bad named Glorificus we'll need his help with. Only vampires are able to remember her true form. I can for now, but there's no telling if I will once we meet. Anyway, I'll see you when you get home."

After they left, she went hunting again.

* * *

Faith arrived at school early the next morning and checked to see that the councilor was still alive. At lunch Faith sat with the majority of the Scoobies while Buffy ate a large lunch with Scott and his friends. At Faith's table Xander and Willow were acting strangely. If she hadn't known about The Fluke (with capital letters) she wouldn't have thought anything about it. But she and Xander had talked about that incident in depth. How Xander, who had thought of Willow as a sister for almost 15 years had suddenly and temporarily had very unsisterly thoughts about her. After hearing about Cordelia and her role as the mother to Jasmine, Xander more or less laid the blame for the incident at the sort-of-goddess' feet and swore that he no longer had any feelings for Willow in that way. Faith ignored their flirting like she ignored Xander and Cordelia because changing those relationships could cost her her way home. But it was weird seeing Buffy happy with a normal boy; though it was a distant second to seeing Cordelia and Xander together. But she barely remembered this guy. She definitely remembered Riley. But after that, Buffy had basically given up on humans and gone for vamps instead. And from there to less and less human boyfriends.

"If you stare any longer, Scott's going to start getting jealous." Cordelia said.

Faith smirked and looked at Xander instead of the cheerleader. "Or maybe invite me in for a threesome." she said before going back to demolishing her lunch. Leaving Cordelia fuming and Xander blushing. Faith took another glance over at Buffy's table and blinked the other girl looked awfully familiar. Like she should know her. But Faith was pretty sure she didn't know her except in passing. She finished her lunch and put her tray away. Looking back at Buffy's table where B and her boy were now alone, she spotted the backs of their friends heads leaving and had a flash back to when the back of the same head, in the same outfit even had pushed Buffy's gun and caused her to shoot Giles with the tranq gun.

She marched over to Buffy. "I had a dream."

"Huh?" Buffy looked up at her. "Does this mean we'll have to march on Washington DC?"

"No. I had _th__at_ kind of dream. I only saw them from behind, but it was your two new friends. Well, him. But she helped."

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.

"No. You have got to be joking." Buffy insisted.

"In my dream, Platt was the next target. Today." Faith said and walked away. She signaled the other Scoobies to follow her to the library where she told them and Giles about her 'Slayer dream' and seeing the fight but not seeing any faces, only the back of Debbie's head and a monster fighting Oz.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Giles chided.

"Dreams are hard to remember, even Slayer dreams. Plus, I only saw the back of the chick's head as she pushed the tranq gun your way." Faith covered for her cover story. Slayer dreams were often prophetic. It was a good cover for knowing the future. Great for having come up with it on the walk from the busing area to Buffy's table.

"Why would Oz be out of his cage in his woofy form though?" Willow complained.

"That's just what I saw." Faith shrugged. Truthfully she hadn't bothered to ask why the first time around. She was kind of wishing she had been more involved the first time around. Perhaps things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand then. She shook her head to clear the 'what if' thoughts. "I'm going to go check on that Platt guy again. You guys see if you can't find this Pete guy and bring him back here without confronting him. I'll check in here again before I go to class."

Faith arrived to find a battle already in progress. Buffy was battling a hideous monster that was wearing the same clothes Pete had been. Platt was also there, with some vicious scratches across his face, but still alive. He hit the Pete creature with a large textbook, sending Pete backwards towards the secretary's desk. Faster than anyone but Buffy could have seen, Faith slid the message spike towards that part of the desk. Pete fell backwards over the desk and his head was impaled on the spike, stopping the fight very suddenly.

"Oh god." Platt fell to his knees.

"Call the paramedics." Faith calmly ordered the secretary who had been hiding under her desk. She then nodded to Buffy before walking back to the library.

* * *

This time around Homecoming was a lot more fun. She didn't have to steal her dress either. Her dress wasn't quite as good this time, but it was a gift from DD (who she was now sometimes calling DeeDee instead of Double-D since she'd received the dress) made it much more special. And no one got shot at, which was always a plus at any Scooby gathering. Buffy and Scott made a cute couple. Willow and Oz made an odd couple to her eyes with the him being male and all. And she controlled herself very well by not strangling Cordelia as she danced with Xander. She distracted herself by dancing with some kid she'd been sure was a freshman. Until she realized it was Jonathan. She hadn't really known the kid very well. Only really met him that time he'd taken a rifle up into the clock tower and had heard about him one last time when Andrew Wells had killed him trying to open the Hellmouth; before she had arrived.

"Th- Thanks." he muttered, his eyes downcast. Far below where he could have possibly been staring at her tits.

She smiled. "Hey. I don't do charity, Jono. I danced with you because you're one of the best dancers here." which wasn't saying much but it was true enough to pump the kid's ego up a bit. "Plus, you're pretty easy on the eyes and I didn't have to wear my heals. All leads to a better than average night in my book."

"Wow. You know my name." he brightened. "Do you think-"

"Sorry. I got a guy." she cut him off before he could embarrass himself too much. "He just can't be with me right now." which was also sort of true.

"Oh. Well, he's a lucky guy." Jon smiled and actually kissed her hand at the end of the dance. It was pretty suave for a kid. She saw a couple girls lining up for the next dance and she pushed him towards one she knew was the nicest.

* * *

She hadn't known about the Band Candy having been cursed. She hadn't been around at the time and no one had mentioned anything about it to her. But they saved the babies and killed the demon, which she hoped was as good as things had gone the first time around. Giles as a young man had been a hoot, as had Joyce. She herself had been the old her. Pretty wild and uncontrolled, not doing much planning, but willing to fight the good fight once they figured out what the hell was going on. DD had been a rather shy and reserved school girl who she hadn't had much interest in getting to know at the time.

* * *

Then came one of two days she'd been dreading and hoping for since she came here. Gwendolyn Post came to Sunnydale claiming to be doing an audit of their watchers' abilities as well as looking for the glove of Myhnegon. After claiming to represent the council and disparaging both watchers' research abilities as well as Diana's combat abilities, Faith was feeling about ready to pop... and not in the good way.

"So this Lagos guy sound pretty tough. I guess Buffy and I outta start searching for him." Faith said through clenched teeth. She got up, grabbed Buffy and left; ignoring _Mrs._ Post's calls at her back. As if anyone would actually have married that shrew.

As soon as they were out the doors, Buffy disengaged herself. "Oww." she complained as she shook her arm. "I take it you're not a fan of Gwen?"

Faith apologized slightly abashedly, "Sorry." she took a breath. "Listen. Do you trust me?"

"Of course." was the instant answer.

Faith waited until they were outside and across the street before speaking. "Listen you might not believe me, but I got a weird vibe off her. Plus, I had a Slayer dream." Faith began.

"What happened?" Buffy asked eagerly.

"Post was the bad guy." Faith stated.

Buffy's mouth collected flies for a full minute as she contemplated the implications. She turned back to the school. "Giles-!"

Faith stopped her. "Will be perfectly safe until she has the glove." she assured the other Slayer. "But I'm worried about Lagos."

"What about him?" Buffy queried. "Was he tough? In your dream?"

"That wasn't what I was worried about. In the dream, we killed him before he had a chance to find the glove. But if Post was the bad guy... it makes me wonder if he was the good guy."

"The demon?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"There _are_ good demons. I've heard of two in LA. One's named Doyle and one's named Lorne. I could put you on the phone with Lorne and you would think he was one of the nicest guys you've ever talked to." Faith insisted.

"Gosh, two whole good demons in all of LA." Buffy said sarcastically. "I guess we should give up being Slayers."

"There's probably a lot more that I don't know about. I didn't spend much time in LA on the way here." Faith insisted. "But even in a short stay, I learned of two. Look, all I'm sayin' is that I don't want to go in shooting with this Lagos guy, kay? You can hang back, ready to fight, if anything goes wrong. But I just want to try talking to him first. Maybe it'll be a stupid idea and he'll attack me outright, but can you at least let me try?"

Buffy sighed. "Alright. We can try it your way first, but if he so much as twitches in a way I don't like, he's a goner."

* * *

They found the demon in the same place that Faith had first encountered it, defiling someone's tomb. "Hello?" she called.

No response.

#"Hello?"# she tried the grunt which should be its native language.

That got the demon to stop searching and turn around. #"What do you want, little girl?"# it grunted.

#"Me Faith."# she introduced herself and pointed at the other Slayer. "Buffy. Do you understand English?"

The thing nodded and grunted #"yes."#

"Why are you looking for the glove?"

Faith didn't speak much of the language he was grunting at her but she knew #"Wolf, Ram, and Hart."# in over 500 demonic languages and another 30 human languages.

Buffy didn't understand anything the demon had said but she spoke body language just fine. She saw Faith's body language shift into a fighting stance. She didn't even wait for Faith to give the order to 'get him' before she was charging forward. The distance Faith had insisted on stopping gave the demon time to draw its ax but the warning from Post and Faith's dream had given them plenty of time to arm up at Buffy's. Buffy had a sword and Faith had a sword as well as one of her ubiquitous spears. Buffy wasn't quite sure what a spear would do against the ax Faith had said Lagos would be carrying, but she was eager to find out.

Sure enough, the ax had been exactly as Faith had said. She charged in before Faith could bring her spear to bear but not before Lagos could start his swing. She caught the blow on her sword and quickly wished she hadn't. The weight of the ax combined with the strength of the demon made for a very powerful blow. It took both her hands on the sword just to parry the blow. She jumped back quickly and Faith's spear quickly took her place. Poking and probing at the demon's leather armor while avoiding taking any blows from that wicked, but relatively slow, ax. A blow went by and the spear went in low this time, stabbing the demon's unarmored legs. It went down to one leg, but came back up quickly with only a slight limp. Faith drove another blow right through the demon's armor and Buffy could see dark blood oozing out. But Lagos was far from done, he grabbed the spear with one hand before Faith could jerk it back and used his other hand to bring his ax down on the spear, smashing it in half.

Buffy and Faith danced away a bit while Faith threw the rest of her spear away and drew her sword. Their enemy was alive and mortally wounded. If they could get him to take the broken shaft of the spear out, he would probably bleed out fairly quickly so they started circling, forcing the demon to move and jostle the wound. But he didn't remove the wood. Buffy rushed in first, aiming an overhand blow for the thing's head. The monster got the handle of its ax up quickly enough to block but Buffy was appalled at where her sword had hit, three inches left of where she'd intended. The thing had bent her sword!

As Lagos' ax went up to catch Buffy's overhand blow, Faith's blow went in flat and straight underneath the block. She struck his throat and severed the demon's windpipe and spinal cord. He went down like a puppet who's strings had been cut.

"He bent my sword!" Buffy cried.

"Let me see." Faith ordered setting her own blade aside. She gave a whistle after a short examination. "Ouch. It's dead, B. Bent it right at the shoulder." at a look from Buffy she pointed. "Right here where the blade meets the tang. You can bend it back, but next time you take a hard blow, it might just snap." she handed it back and started cleaning her own blade before sheathing it. "That thing is now a nice wall hanger. Though, it could be an interesting conversation piece."

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know last chapter I said that Lagos was probably a good guy. (surprise) And I really do believe that. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but he only said that the reason he was looking for it was WR&H, not that he was actually working for them. Also, the Slayers attacked first again.

But in this story, I really didn't need another character and I have another story that I'd like to write a good Lagos in without repeating my own work. So, down he goes.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: And we're back from the Holidays. And back to work as well. Good for my bank account, less good for my writing. Still, I should be able to put a chapter out every weekend.

Chapter 8.

"Lagos is dead." Buffy announced brightly as she bounced into the library. "Oh, and I need a new sword." She set the blade on the table so that the tip and tang both touched the table but the blade formed a sort of bridge or arch.

"Dear lord, Buffy. Whatever happened?" Giles wondered as he examined the weapon.

"Logo guy's ax." Buffy explained succinctly and pointed to the ax Faith now carried instead of her spear.

"Lagos." Faith quietly corrected.

"So, you parried a weapon heavier than this blade was ever designed to parry, yes? You made no effort to dodge?" Giles asked sternly.

"Well, yeah. But, on the plus side, I didn't get chopped in half." Buffy tried to get her watcher to see the positive in this. "And, he chopped Faith's spear completely in half!" she pointed out.

Giles furiously cleaned his glasses while pointedly not looking at either his Slayer or her former weapon. "Faith can make a dozen spears for a hundred dollars and an hour." Giles countered.

Faith shrugged. It was a slight exaggeration, but Giles was already going on.

"A even a basic sword costs several hundred dollars, and the cheapest ones you would want to trust your life to start at one thousand. In point of fact, the one you just turned into an ornament cost the council twenty-five hundred dollars. What do you have to say for yourself?" Giles finished as he replaced his cleaned glasses.

"I'm sorry?" Buffy replied meekly. Giles had never chewed her out like that before.

"Chill, Jeeves. Metal saved her life. You don't want her to parry with her sword, buy her a shield." Faith quipped. She figured Giles was probably putting on a show for Post and would apologize once they were alone. That tactic had worked on her, after all.

"Buffy, swords are expensive. Do try to be more careful." Giles chided one last time, but more gently.

Diana interrupted. "Back to Lagos, what did you find out?"

"He was working for Wolfram and Hart." Faith informed the three watchers. "He was evil too."

"Too?" Mrs. Post queried at the same time Giles did. Apparently, Diana hadn't shared that new 'Slayer Dream' with the other watcher.

"Oh yes." DD announced. "Whatever you think of our research abilities, it _is_ within our abilities to make a phone call to England. Imagine Traver's surprise when I rang him up to ask about you. He was most helpful, detailing the list of crimes for which you'd been thrown out."

Post looked unfazed. "..." she opened her mouth to speak but Faith punched her into the stacks.

"Faith!" Giles shouted, surprised. "We could have at least heard her defense."

"Or she could have attacked us with magic. Not taking that chance. Send her back to England. Let them deal with her." Faith spat and walked out of the library.

* * *

The next day, Post was on her way back to the land of tea; her broken jaw wired shut. By sundown, Giles had found the resting place of the glove, Buffy and Faith had retrieved it, and they had gone back to the library where the glove was consumed by Living Flame. Which looked to Faith a lot like ordinary flame but she knew better than to test that theory.

In the end, it was a little disappointing. She had remembered this as a really pivotal point in her life. The last time in at least 5 years that she had truly trusted anybody. And now it all felt a little anticlimactic. Buffy, was bouncing off the walls with energy so she let the blonde do the slaying that night while she went home with Diana.

"Are you okay?" the watcher asked.

"M'fine." Faith insisted. But she wasn't. Christmas was less than a month away and somewhere between now and then Anyanka was destined to show up. If everything went to plan, she'd be leaving this world and going back to her own. To her husband.

* * *

_They were lying in bed snuggled in post-coital bliss. Emphasis on bliss. Say what you like about Anya, but she had trained Xander well in the art of sex._

"_I feel like I should throw you out in your underwear now." Xander whispered playfully in her ear._

"_Like you could carry me that far." she snarked._

"_You're right, laziness and exhaustion have saved you for now. You'd better keep me in this state though. Otherwise, you never know..." he trailed off and quickly fell asleep._

_It had taken him more than a year to carry out his threat. He'd said that he thought he might have left the lights on his bike on and she'd volunteered to check. So out she'd gone in just her bra and his boxers when the door had shut behind her. She had to pound on the door for more than a minute before he'd let her back in with that goofy grin plastered on his face. His punishment for that little trick had been a lot of fun. More for her, but she didn't leave him out either._

* * *

Faith wrote down a short list and sealed it in an envelope before handing it to DD. "My chance for going home is coming up. I wrote down the Big Bads that I know about. (Warren Mears had been the hardest to remember. She wasn't about to write down that Willow had been the Big Bad that year.) If I don't come back, you guys'll have a heads up about all the big ones at least."

"Don't come back?" Diana asked holding the envelope.

"Well, I'm not sure how this will work out. So, if it it doesn't work and I die. Or I just disappear. Or if it does work and you're left with the Faith who would have been here. Be nice to her. Mostly she just needs some people she can depend on. So just be there for her and don't die." Faith gave a wry smile.

Diana sighed, "I wi- I mean, I would like you to consider staying Faith. You could have a life here too. And I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I think you could make more of a difference here than you ever did there." Diana held up a hand to forestall any reaction from Faith. "Just think about it. It's all I ask." The watcher tucked the envelope away securely. "I'll miss you if you go."

"Me too. But I've got family waiting for me." Faith explained. Wondering in the same sentence how much she would miss this new family she had already begun to connect with. It really wasn't a fair choice.

* * *

Faith hadn't really been studying for the SATs beyond her usual homework and tutoring with her watcher. Though she was working hard on schoolwork. She didn't want to flunk out on this do over. No matter if she was staying or going home. She just knew knew that the SATs were coming and that DD was insisting that she take them, never mind that she'd only been studying the 12th grade curriculum for about 6 months.

But she had to admit she was a little excited to get the scores. And extremely surprised at the score she'd gotten.

"You are a very intelligent woman, Faith. And it has nothing to do with time-travel. You admitted you had never studied most of these topics in the original timeline. I'm sure that given a full year or two and we'd have you at the top of your class." DD had insisted.

It was also nice when she'd compared her 1220 to everyone else's scores. Willow's big brain dwarfed them all, but both slayers had surprised everyone. Buffy's 1430 overshadowed her own scores, but she didn't mind. Buffy's intelligence (and hiding that intelligence) had gotten the blonde Slayer out of most of the tightest spots. So she was cool while everyone praised Buffy.

"But, I think Faith deserves more credit than she's getting, too." Willow spoke up.

Xander looked at his friend oddly. "Well, 1220 is good. And we have proof that your math skills are better than mine, but 1430 is a whole lot better than 1220. Not that 1220 is bad." he quickly added at the end.

"Like he said, Red. Good, but nothin' special." Faith agreed. She looked at Willow like she'd grown a second head.

"Until someone umm... accidentally looked up your transcripts." Willow blushed as she looked at Faith. "Can I tell them?"

Faith blushed too and rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. Guys undressing her with their eyes she could take easily. The attention of all her friends... made her uncomfortable. "Well, I suppose you better now that you got them all curious."

Willow smiled brightly like what she was about to tell them was some big deal. "Faith dropped out of school last year and still got a 1220." she began.

"Wow." "Cool." and "Not bad." were all murmured respectably.

"Last year was her freshman year." Willow finished.

This time, sputters of disbelief met Willow's words.

"Let me get this straight." Oz began. "You dropped out, skipped two grades, and still managed a 1220? Sorry Buffy, but that blows your 1430 out of the water." It was probably the most Faith had ever heard him speak.

Buffy shook her head. "Wow. No, you're right. That _is_ awesome. Wait, if you were a freshman last year, that makes you..?"

"I told my watcher I wasn't doing three more years of this shit but she wanted me to get an official diploma. So we made a deal. She tutors me while I do my senior year, then I'm free." Faith explained.

"So, you've only be studying for 6 months?" Xander's asked.

"Since I got called. You think I study this shit for fun?"

"Wow, that's... impressive. Incredible even." Buffy said.

* * *

Giles smiled as he looked at the paper. "Buffy, this is, this is remarkable." he preened.

Buffy smiled. "Faith's is more impressive when you realize she's only been studying for 6 months." Buffy demurred.

"Really? A 1220 after only 6 months? That's sensational." Giles exclaimed.

"Just numbers." Faith said looking around at all the camping gear in the library. "You going somewhere?"

"Taking a short retreat. There's a clearing at the top of Breaker's Woods that's been the site of some fascinating Druidic rituals." Giles explained. "Diana will be in charge of both of your training for the next couple of days."

"All this, just for a couple of days?" Buffy motioned to the large amount of gear on and around the large table.

"This is basic necessities." Giles insisted.

"Giles, you pack like me." Buffy joked.

Giles handed her back the test scores. "Here, I suspect your mother will want to, uh, put it on the refrigerator."

"Yeah. She saw these scores, and her head spun around and exploded." Buffy smiled.

Giles scratched his head. "I-I've been on the Hellmouth too long. That was metaphorical, yes?"

"Yes. She was happy."

Giles smiled in relief, and went over to the weapon/book cage.

"She started with all this crazy talk about me going to college, maybe someplace else." Buffy said sadly. "I know. I know, I said that you were gonna have a goat. Responsibilities and all. I know the drill."

"She may be right." Giles said from the cage.

"Yeah, I know, I figured you'd... Okay. Be kind, rewind." Buffy said.

It took Faith a moment to recall the reference to VHS tapes.

"With scores like these. Both of you have the possibility of attending college. Seeing how you've both been able to balance school and Slaying up until now, I see no reason why you can't both continue that trend."

"No thanks for me, G." Faith refused. "I told Double D that this was as far as I'm going for school. Except for martial arts and maybe some military training. After graduation, I'm hitting the road and heading out on a demon-Slaying road trip."

"Well, let's, um, let's discuss it when I get back. In- in the meantime, um, I'd like you two to continue training with Diana while I'm- while I'm gone, and, um... please don't do anything rash." Giles started packing.

Buffy smiled. "'Anything rash', meaning..."

"Don't do anything I'd do." Faith offered with a smile.

Giles just looked at her sideways. Buffy too. "Faith, of the two of you, not that Buffy is irresponsible _most_ of the time, but since you've come here, I've thought of you as the more responsible one. Your language notwithstanding. No offense Buffy."

"No, it's perfectly true." Buffy shrugged nonchalantly. "Faith's the responsible one. Which leaves me free to do the fun things like date Scott Hope."

Faith looked at them both like they'd turned into Fyarl demons.

"Just both of you be careful." Giles insisted.

"And use a condom." Faith grinned at the sputter she was able to get from both Buffy and Giles. Served 'em right for calling her responsible.

* * *

"Ooo! Faith! You have to hear this story, you'll love it." Buffy waved her over to join the group in the library before school the next day. "Start over so Faith can hear."

"Okay, so you know how Faith's been insisting that everyone carry stakes all the time because 'you never know when you're going to get attacked and it sucks 'blank' not having a weapon'?" Willow began, glossing over Faith's usual language. "So, last night, Xander and I were waiting for Cordelia and Oz to go bowling when Spike shows up out of the blue. Or should that be black? It was night time."

"Spike's this vampire-" Buffy started explaining.

"I know who Spike is." Faith cut her off. She certainly knew Spike better than all the assembled teens combined. "So what happened?" she asked Willow.

"Well, he grabbed Xander, but Xander kicked off the wall and threw him, and by him I mean Spike, into some shelves. Then he hit Xander. I attacked him with my stake but he caught my arm and threatened me, but while he was busy with that, Xander staked him in the back!"

An upset, "Damn!" slipped out of Faith's mouth before she could stop it. At the looks from the Scoobies she went on, "I wanted his coat. Heard he had a wicked cool duster he got from the second Slayer he killed. I was going to take it back." she covered. She couldn't believe it. She had changed the future just by giving them some tips on fighting. She wondered what kind of ripples this would have.

"He got that coat from a Slayer?" Buffy asked. She remembered the duster and it had looked pretty good on him... in a very evil way.

"It's what I heard." Faith shrugged. "But yay for you guys slaying him. That guy was seriously evil." _For now,_ she mentally added. But then again, he hadn't turned good until Buffy had fucked him senseless. So this was probably for the best. They still had the vampire with a soul and a witch who could ensoul a random vamp if they had to use that medallion to close the Hellmouth again.

As the group broke up to go to class, Faith noticed that the two couples were no longer very coupley. She caught up with Willow. "Red, what else happened that none of you four are talking to each other?"

"Xander finally started noticing me as a woman... about a year too late." Willow complained. "So I was trying to do a de-lusting spell so we wouldn't do something we'd regret. But then Spike attacked and our dates showed up. But seeing the evidence of a love spell, our ex-dates didn't take our explanation well."

"That's too bad." Faith comforted, but inside she was singing. Xander was a free man. And Anyanka might still be coming. And in the meantime, she definitely would be.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

"Come with me if you want to live." Faith said as she passed Xander walking home.

Xander stopped walking. "Wait. What?" He looked around for any sign of danger.

"Fine, how about 'come with me if you want to have sex'?" Faith asked. She took his hand and ignored his protests as she pulled him home.

"Diana, I'm home!" she called dropping her key in the dish by the tray.

"Hi Faith!" her watcher came around the corner. "Oh! Xander."

"Xander and Cordy finally broke up, so we're going to go up to my room and fuck until one of us gives out." Faith smiled that DD was just as shocked as Xander. "We'll be late for dinner. Don't wait up. Oh and call B and tell her I won't be patrolling tonight." said as she dragged Xander up the stairs to her room. She started kissing him. It took a few seconds but he was soon kissing her back.

Then he broke away. "Wait. Faith. What's going on?" Xander found the breath to ask.

Faith took the lack of kissing as an opportunity to undress herself and him. "I don't know if you've noticed, since you're a guy, but I've had my eye on you since I came to this town. And you can ask your ex if you don't believe me. Tomorrow." she finished undressing down to her underwear and had Xander similarly almost naked. She pushed him backwards onto the bed, pulled off his shoes, socks, and pulled his pants the rest of the way off.

* * *

_**The rest of this scene has been edited for FFN. Suffice to say that Xander and Faith have a lot of hot, steamy sex. If you'd like to read the rest, just search for Oxnate on Twisting the Hellmouth. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming already in progress. **_

* * *

"Oh dear god!" Xander said as he flopped off her and onto the bed.

"Close. But you can just call me Faith." she smirked as she readied a new attack on her man.


	10. Chapter 9 and a half

Chapter 9.5.

* * *

Faith eased herself into the chair across from the watcher and accepted the coffee that was slid into her hands. She was sore. Not as sore as she'd ever been, but it was certainly up there on her list of favorite nights. They'd even managed one of those simultaneous climaxes you read about so much in bad smut. The kind of thing that rarely happens in real life and were more a result of luck and just fucking a lot; though practice did seem to improve the chances. "So, how do you like my husband?" she grinned.

"Ahh. I see." Diana raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Well, he certainly is... enthusiastic." she allowed. Those two kids had been at it half the night, keeping her awake. She wanted to be annoyed but it was hard to be mad when she finally saw her charge truly happy. "So, you left behind a husband? Why didn't you tell me?"

"For that matter, why didn't you tell me?" Xander came down the stairs. "You have a husband? After what we did last night, and now I find out you have a husband?" he was furious.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris. Sit down and I'll explain." Faith gave him a steely gaze. Xander looked between the two women but eventually complied. "Would you like something to eat? Coffee?" Faith asked in a much nicer voice.

"Just an explanation." Xander shook his head.

"My name isn't Faith Lehane. It's Faith Harris. You're my husband. We were married for over ten years before I got sent back in time." Faith stated calmly.

"I'm gonna need that coffee now." Xander started rubbing his temples.

* * *

After Xander had his coffee and was reasonably more awake, they tried again. "The best reference you're going to understand is Terminator. Or maybe Quantum Leap since I leapt back into my younger body. The thing is, I did this already. Lived my life. Came to SunnyD. Didn't get off on the right foot with B since she was dealing with that Angelus shit. I wasn't nice and mature either. I did some things I'm not proud of, but in the end, everyone came together to close the Hellmouth." Faith explained. "After that, I ended up with you as my watcher, and eventually husband."

Xander looked into his coffee. "Prove it. Tell me something no one else knows."

"Until Tony beat the idea out of you, you wanted to be a dancer when you grew up." Faith said quickly.

Xander's jaw dropped.

"You had an identical twin brother growing up who 'disappeared' when you two were seven." she made the air quotes around disappeared. "No one ever talks about him though. Just like Jesse, who you haven't mentioned since I arrived, I'm pretty sure. Willow had an older sister who also 'disappeared' when she and Willow were ten and seven, respectively. The two of you bonded in your grief and added Jesse to the group when he lost the second of his sisters a couple years later."

"Enough." Xander said softly. The memories were bubbling up and threatening to fall into his coffee.

Faith reached over and took his hand. "Sorry. But you believe me now, right?"

"Yeah. I don't think I have much choice, do I?" Xander swallowed.

"Of course you do. No fate but what we make and all that shit. But on the upside, I have a lot of really wicked stories that are never going to happen this time around. Like how we closed the Hellmouth. Cause, you're never going to believe this, but you just dusted the hero that closed the Hellmouth." that got Xander to look up so Faith went on. "Yeah. Spike turned white hat... eventually; and went down while closing the Hellmouth. Still I'm glad you dusted him. Cause you probably saved a lot of people and we can get someone else to close the Mouth. Plus, a whole lot of really unlikely events would have had to go down just right for him to turn.

"I also know that you're much smarter than you give yourself credit for. That you could have almost doubled your SAT scores if you hadn't been such a slacker in high school." she added.

"Faith, I'm not-" Xander started.

Faith jumped up. "If you're about to say 'you're not smart', I'm going to go to your folk's house and break both of Tony's legs right now." she growled. "Which reminds me, I'm not letting you live there any more."

"Faith." Diana broke in.

"You have to meet Tony before you think about objecting." Faith pointed at her watcher, who acquiesced to the request. "And you," she turned to Xander, "are not allowed to be a slacker any more. My husband was a famous demon fighter in his own right, a really good carpenter, and a viking in the sack. And you need to apply yourself in all three areas to come up to snuff. Well, I don't care if you want to be a carpenter this time around or not. But the other two are non-negotiable."

"Faith, do you understand how this sounds?" Xander pleaded. "You take me home, do things to me I never thought possible, and tell me I'm your long-lost husband. And sure, you know a lot of personal and frankly private stuff about me, but how do I know this isn't a trick? Or some kind of spell?"

"It is a spell." Faith admitted. "On me. By a vengeance demon. And there's one scheduled to visit soon. Not sure if it will though, since the way you and Cordy broke up was a little different than last time. Last time you didn't kill Spike and Cordy got a piece of rebar shoved through her gut along with your cheating on her with Willow. She was a _little_ upset. Called down dark vengeance on Buffy's head."

Xander blinked for a moment. "Wait. On _Buffy's_ head? Why Buffy's head. That makes the kind of sense that isn't."

"Yeah. Don't ask me how her mind works but Cordelia got it in her head that she only dated you because helping Buffy made you look cool. Anyway, my plan was to go back to my time once the demon showed up. But now, I'm rethinking that. I mean, I've got you and I've got better friends than I had the first time around since I made sure _not_ to tell B to go fuck herself. Plus, I don't know what would happen if I ended the spell, what happened when I left, and what would happen to this universe if I left it. So, I might stay. But that would mean you've gotta shape your ass up. And I mean that literally, cause my husband works out and trains a lot." Faith crossed her arms under her breasts.

"You're serious about this?" Xander asked. "What did you say about the timeline you left?"

"Well, if I'm here, then this Faith might be there. Suddenly having Slayer powers and waking up next to a one-eyed demon fighter claiming to be her husband. So, future you might be dead. Or this is some sort of replacement timeline and going forward just means there was no me during those years. Or I could have just disappeared or died there and you've already mourned me." Faith tried to explain her theories. "The thing is, vengeance demons are powerful. They have to be to turn back time 20 years. And I don't have anything they might want. My basic plan was to kill and/or threaten to kill them all, one at a time, until one of them undid the wish."

"The wish? And one eye? What happened?"

"You lost it in a fight. But the eye patch made you look badass." Faith told him, but didn't explain in-depth. She then gave Xander a quick but in-depth history of vengeance demons, the wish powers, demon power sources, smashing said power sources, and her own accidental wish. "So, never, ever say the words 'I W-I-S-H' ever again." she finished with a warning.

"That was not a very viable plan, Faith." Diana said when Faith had finally stopped specking.

"When I first came back I was so angry, I'da destroyed the whole vengeance clan. No telling if it would have taken me back or not." she looked at Xander, "But suddenly, I'm feeling a lot less angry. Must be all that fucking we did last night. 'Sides, things are going better this time around. I'm not going to fuck it up this time, and I'm not going to let Buffy bench you."

"Bench me?" Xander asked.

"Yeah. Listen, all this took a long time for B to admit, but she wanted to live vicariously through you and Red. She knew slaying was a death sentence and she wanted someone to live on. To remember her outside of some stuffy watcher's journal. 'Cept she didn't know you very well. So, originally, just after B's 18th," she gave a hard look at her watcher. "There was another apocalypse. It didn't look good so B sent you away so that you'd 'be safe'. Course, with your luck, you ran into a zombie named Jack O'Toole."

"O'Toole is a zombie?" Xander interrupted.

"Maybe not yet. I dunno. Chop off his head and find out." Faith shrugged. "Anyway, he raised a little gang of zombies and tried to blow up the school while the rest of us were busy closing the Hellmouth. You saved everyone and then never told a soul until a couple years after we were married."

"Wow. That's- that's a lot to take in." Xander admitted.

Faith stood up and went to the fridge. "I know. You think. I'll make breakfast. Scrambled, right?" she started cracking eggs into a bowl while waiting for Xander to nod. She scrambled up a whole dozen while getting out two pans. She poured the eggs into one and threw some bacon in the other. A few minutes later she set the plates of cooked food in front of Xander. "Just like you like. Eggs, slightly overdone and bacon slightly underdone but not cold."

"Actually, I like my eggs runny." Xander admitted.

Faith's eyes widened in shock as she stood up and started pacing. "That no good- He said he- Ughhh! All those years and he never said a thing. I outta slap you."

Xander raised a hand defensively. "It wasn't me. And I'm sure the other me was just being nice."

"Well you gotta tell me this time, or you'll be eating overdone eggs for the rest of your life." Faith sat back down and started eating, taking half of both the bacon and the eggs and leaving the two mere mortals to split the other half. Once she started eating and calmed down she changed the subject. "First thing we do is move you outta that shit hole."

"Thanks for the offer. But I'm only 17. Not sure we can do that." Xander said between bites.

"Like they'd care." Faith waved him off. "'Sides, we'll do it slow. A couple bags at a time and they'll never notice. If they do, just tell them you're sleeping at a friend's. That's true, right?"

"We should discuss sleeping arrangements." DD put in.

"I'll sleep on the couch." Xander quickly.

"Like hell! You're sleeping in my bed." Faith stated.

"Faith, I'm not going to let you sleep on the couch." Xander insisted.

Faith chuckled. "I sleep where you sleep, _husband._" she emphasized the last word. "Unless you do something stupid. Then you sleep on the floor."

"What about when you do something stupid?" he asked... stupidly.

"Honey. I'm the woman, and a Slayer. So I'm doubly right all the time." Faith gave a saccharin smile. "And you had better learn that fast this time."

"Got it. Faith is always right." Xander nodded quickly.

"Bet your sweet ass." she gave a real smile.

* * *

A/N: "Come with me if you want to live." is from the Terminator series. About a hero who travels back in time. Don't own. Don't own Quantum Leap, which is also about time travel.

A/N2: There seem to be a lot of only children in Sunnydale. The idea that the children of Sunnydale are the only _surviving_ children isn't exactly canon, but it does sort of fit the facts. It also sort of explains the apparently rampant parental non-involvement. The parents of Sunnydale slid into depression after losing a child or children and forget to give due care to their remaining ones. Xander had a twin because Nicholas Brendon has a twin brother (Kelly Donovan) who played the other Xander when Xander was split.


End file.
